Heard of Aerospace Medicine?

[Equality]

Whoa, I just came across this website by NASA about Aerospace medicine and their clerkships offered to 4th year med students. Has anyone heard of this program? Know someone who did it? Know someone involved in Aerospace medicine? O man, I wonder how I can get involved in space medicine research to have a shot at this.


http://spacemed.jsc.nasa.gov/education/Amc.aspx

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[The Poet Sings]

i know nothing about it, but judging from the username, familyaerospace should be able to help you http://forums.studentdoctor.net/member.php?u=296039

 

[Web MD]

"This is considered an educational/research clerkship, so do not expect contact/interaction with patients during the clerkship" - because patients live on earth bro.

 

[willen101383]

Dunno...but being into flying and that sort I do intend to get certified as a FAA examiner once I am an attending. Flat fee and insurance doesnt cover the exam

 

[DocBell]

I know aerospace medicine is a huge field in the military particularly Air force and navy. The only people I know that did it went that route. If you are serious you should definitely check out the Air Force website for more info. However, with NASA stopping the shuttle program my guess is their need for aerospace physicians is gonna decrease as well.

 

[Lokhtar]

Haha, how many astronauts are there? Not too many - so there aren't hundreds of physicians twiddling their thumbs at NASA. I don't think it would really have a significant impact on demand (unless the field is so small that there are <100 practitioners).

 

[Omni]

"Aerospace medicine" or "Aerospace Doctors/Surgeons" just evaluate personnel who work in an aviation field like air traffic controllers, pilots, astronauts (before liftoff) etc. So no, you don't get to rappel down buildings while shooting terrorists or para-drop into a hot zone to do surgery. Unfortunately.

 

[familyaerospace]

OK, I was "paged" by a friend to this thread. Seems someone else said something about me too. I appreciate it. Gotta get the name out somehow.

I spent 3 years working in aerospace medicine doing work with astronauts and cosmonauts when I was working on my graduate degree in Space Studies. One of the reasons I'm pursuing an MD is because I needed it to continue my research. (I was only one of 10 people in the world working in the area of aerospace psychology. There are more doing general aerospace medicine which is what I would prefer to move into).

Most aerospace medicine doctors are not working with astronauts and instead are working with flight crews aboard airplanes. Pilots are supposed to get regular flight physicals and they should go to a doctor who is qualified to do a flight physical. Several of my friends are less interested in space and more interested in that aspect.

The area of aerospace medicine as a civilian doctor is pretty competitive unless you spend a lot of time in the military and then it's not nearly as competitive. Aerospace nurses apparently are in really hot demand though. Actually it is relatively hard to get into a civilian residency or fellowship in aerospace. The following civilian places are good and honesly are the only places I know of : UTMB (they have a joint residency in IM), Wright State, and the rumour is Mayo is going to bring something on-line soon... a fellowship I think they said. There are others that are military only.

I was told by a flight doc at NASA that you can be boarded in aerospace medicine without doing a residency, so I don't know what to make of that. Of course he is also the same person who said I was too old to go to medical school (I'm 29).

I know people who have been through rotations down at NASA on their way to becoming flight docs. I know several doctors at NASA who in all likelihood are teaching the rotation. In fact, one NASA person just contacted me a few weeks ago because he needed a new copy of a paper I coauthored a few years ago.

The lack of a shuttle program is unlikely to affect the need for aerospace doctors much. However, if space tourism ever happens, the need for qualified aerospace medicine is likely to increase.

If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. I sometimes don't always see responses in threads.

 

[sedaniel]

OK, I was "paged" by a friend to this thread. Seems someone else said something about me too. I appreciate it. Gotta get the name out somehow.

I spent 3 years working in aerospace medicine doing work with astronauts and cosmonauts when I was working on my graduate degree in Space Studies. One of the reasons I'm pursuing an MD is because I needed it to continue my research. (I was only one of 10 people in the world working in the area of aerospace psychology. There are more doing general aerospace medicine which is what I would prefer to move into).

Most aerospace medicine doctors are not working with astronauts and instead are working with flight crews aboard airplanes. Pilots are supposed to get regular flight physicals and they should go to a doctor who is qualified to do a flight physical. Several of my friends are less interested in space and more interested in that aspect.

The area of aerospace medicine as a civilian doctor is pretty competitive unless you spend a lot of time in the military and then it's not nearly as competitive. Aerospace nurses apparently are in really hot demand though. Actually it is relatively hard to get into a civilian residency or fellowship in aerospace. The following civilian places are good and honesly are the only places I know of : UTMB (they have a joint residency in IM), Wright State, and the rumour is Mayo is going to bring something on-line soon... a fellowship I think they said. There are others that are military only.

I was told by a flight doc at NASA that you can be boarded in aerospace medicine without doing a residency, so I don't know what to make of that. Of course he is also the same person who said I was too old to go to medical school (I'm 29).

I know people who have been through rotations down at NASA on their way to becoming flight docs. I know several doctors at NASA who in all likelihood are teaching the rotation. In fact, one NASA person just contacted me a few weeks ago because he needed a new copy of a paper I coauthored a few years ago.

The lack of a shuttle program is unlikely to affect the need for aerospace doctors much. However, if space tourism ever happens, the need for qualified aerospace medicine is likely to increase.

If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. I sometimes don't always see responses in threads.

This is super cool! I saw that page on NASA's site too and thought it would be a pretty interesting rotation... gotta get into med school first

 

[DocBell]

Need for doctors? No. Job availability? yes. I was just meaning that with over 8,000 people losing their jobs when the manned shuttle program shuts down (albeit many of those are contract) that NASA is going to be hurting and hiring will slow down. They have already laid people off including some of their doctors. Many of their physician positions can be supplied through the Armed Forces and like familyaerospace said it was already a competitive field for civilians. However we have a close family friend who did a residency in aerospace medicine that is now the Air Force liaison with the Coast guard so Nasa isn't your only option in the field.

 

[911 Turbo]

bump

anyone know anything else about this? I am less interested in the treatment side of things but am very interested in research.... any md/phd opportunities in this area of medicine?

I mean research on the effects of outer space, not the effects of the upper atmosphere, seeing as the space tourism industry is about to explode

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

http://cdm15290.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15290coll3/id/1032/rec/11

Not sure if that's still valid. I believe it is still a military residency and/or fellowship option.

 

[ericksonj15]

.

 

[911 Turbo]

http://cdm15290.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15290coll3/id/1032/rec/11

Not sure if that's still valid. I believe it is still a military residency and/or fellowship option.

interesting. I did some research and there are two civilian residencies. I wonder what the difference is?

EVMS actually has a scholarship for people interested in space medicine.

http://www.evms.edu/education/finan...t_david_brown_aerospace_and_medical_research/

Interesting, thank you! However do you know if EVMS itself is tied in any way to space medicine (research, classes, etc)?

 

[mcloaf]

interesting. I did some research and there are two civilian residencies. I wonder what the difference is?



Interesting, thank you! However do you know if EVMS itself is tied in any way to space medicine (research, classes, etc)?

Beyond residency, Mayo does have a fellowship program for BC/BE docs in FM, IM, Surg, Psych, Neuro, or EM. You earn an MPH at U Minnesota and do clinical training + research at Mayo. Interesting.

http://www.mayo.edu/msgme/residenci...lties/aerospace-medicine-fellowship-minnesota

 

[punkedoutriffs]

I just want to be the attending aboard the Enterprise.

 

[punkedoutriffs]

would that be the aircraft carrier, the space shuttle or the starfleet ship?

I forget which one it was that boldly goes where no man has gone before.

 

[alpinism]

TBH, there really isn't a treatment side of things. Aerospace med is a branch of preventive medicine and the vast majority of the specialty involves flight physicals and public health work related to flying (mostly commercial or military flight, not spaceflight).

The "space" portion of the name was added for the few docs that do work with astronauts and because it sounds sexier.

If you want to do just space physiology/toxicology research, you can realistically do a residency in almost any field, then possibly a fellowship or masters in ASM (neither are required but they would would make you a more competitive candidate). Then just find a lab (usually NASA funded) that does space research. UTMB and Wright State have 2 of the largest research programs, or you can just work for NASA themselves.


http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/slsd/about/divisions/spacemed/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/humanresearch/index.html

http://www.med.wright.edu/asm

 

[1stmeds]

I just want to be the attending aboard the Enterprise.

I forget which one it was that boldly goes where no man has gone before.

This

 

[Urnathok]

Is...is this where you apply to be Bones McCoy? I hope this is where you apply to be Bones McCoy.

 

[Slickyfats]

I forget which one it was that boldly goes where no man has gone before.

I think you're thinking of the British Sailboat