What exactly is aerospace medicine?

[UserNameNeeded]

I was reading a medical school catalogue and it mentioned some of its graduates went on to specialize in that.

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[RxnMan]

Try this.

 

[UserNameNeeded]

Thanks!

 

[swampthing]

I was reading a medical school catalogue and it mentioned some of its graduates went on to specialize in that.

Aerospace Medicine is a preventive medicine specialty. Basically you are the doctor of pilots and other aircrew, this can include space flight. You regularly monitor your patients to ensure that it's safe for them to fly or not. You also treat diseases related to aviation and the aerospace environment.

An aerospace medicine residency is a total of 2-3 years (depending on the program). There are currently 4 aerospace medicine residency programs in the country:
1. Naval Operational Medicine Institute (Pensacola, Florida)
2. U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (San Antonio, Texas)
3. University of Texas - Affiliated with NASA (Galveston, Texas)
4. Wright State University (Dayton, Ohio)

http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/srch/

The first 2 programs are in the military and you must be an active duty military member to attend these programs. The last 2 are open to civilians.

In the Navy program (in Florida), during your 1st year you go to school and get an MPH degree. Then you do 1-2 years clinical work. I believe the Air Force is the same. I cannot comment on the other civilian programs.