Aerospace Medicine
 

Aerospace medicine is one of three specialty areas within the field of preventive medicine. Practitioners of aerospace medicine must concern themselves with protecting the health of populations exposed to unusual or extreme environments, to be knowledgeable about the physical and engineering aspects of the flight environment, and in managing public safety issues from a variety of regulatory agencies including the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Specialists in aerospace medicine provide health care to diverse populations including crewmembers exposed to high performance flight environments, support crewmembers exposed to a variety of environmental health concerns, and dependent family members needing comprehensive primary care. Health issues range from ambulatory care similar to a busy family medicine practice to the specific needs of flight and support crewmembers in hazardous environments. An understanding of toxicology and infectious disease is key to practicing in the aerospace medicine field, as well as a thorough understanding of human physiology, basic physics, and engineering principles.

The practitioner in aerospace medicine is expected to maintain the health of flight and support crewmembers through a variety of preventive, clinical and workplace safety and environmental programs. Crewmembers are exposed to hazardous environments that include low pressure, reduced oxygen partial pressure, excess ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, accelerative forces, and physiological changes induced from prolonged exposure to microgravity environments. Crewmembers are often dependent on protective equipment to provide pressure and breathing gases, and may function in a completely closed environment such as a space vehicle. This closed environment is very susceptible to environmental contamination. The resident will provide clinical care to support (ground) crew members who are exposed to many environmental hazards including noise, vibrations, temperature extremes, and toxic exposures.

The impetus for the development of the proposed aerospace medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB) stems from the perceived need for focused training in space medicine and the unique relationship between UTMB and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In 1993, UTMB developed and offered a fellowship in space medicine to physicians who were board certified in another specialty. Fellows in this program participated in rotations at the NASA - Johnson Space Center (JSC), as well as at the Armstrong Laboratory at the Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio. Graduates have been hired in a variety of clinical, operational, and research settings
at JSC.

UTMB has several strengths to facilitate offering an aerospace medicine residency. UTMB recruited many full-time and teaching faculty with a broad experience base in clinical, operational and research aspects of space flight. In 1995, additional full-time faculty were recruited with expertise in civil aviation medicine as well as space flight. UTMB was selected as an affiliate life sciences campus for the International Space University, and has exchanged faculty with ISU for the past several years. UTMB will also be active in the NASA Life Sciences Institute proposals and will pursue establishing a research center for space biomedical sciences.

In 1995, a working group was established to broaden the scope of the space medicine fellowship to a comprehensive aerospace medicine residency. The working group believed that aerospace medicine should be taught as a continuum of personal health and environmental risks from civil aviation to military aviation to space flight. Many topics in aerospace medicine impact all operational environments although to differing degrees of risk. A useful example is exposure to low pressure or high radiation environments. Any flight crewmember may be exposed to these hazardous environments and health and safety principles are applicable to all flight environments.

The working group established a vision for the residency that graduates would be trained in all aspects of aerospace medicine and would be able to function in environments as diverse as general aviation to space flight, and in commercial, governmental and academic institutions. Graduates should be able to conduct preventive and certification medical exams for pilots and other crewmembers, develop and implement preventive medicine programs for flying and support populations, participate in the development of protective equipment for crewmembers and conduct research protocols for clinical and flight related research topics.

The Aerospace Medicine residency program is divided into two phases: Academic and Practicum.  Upon arrival, each resident will be matched with a Faculty Advisor that will assist in coordinating the academic and practicum experience.

       

The skills that a graduate from this program in aerospace medicine should possess are: