Two leading medical officials with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will visit UNMC today and Thursday to talk about current and potential partnerships with UNMC. The Medical Center has served as an advisor to NASA’s medical office, working on two new health programs to help meet future space challenges.
Richard Williams, M.D., NASA’s chief health and medical officer, will meet with UNMC officials, as well as express his appreciation for UNMC’s ongoing work with NASA. Desmond Lugg, M.D., chief of NASA’s Medicine of Extreme Environments, also will visit UNMC. Tours of UNMC and a community reception also are planned.
At NASA’s request, UNMC was asked to prepare a detailed analysis of a proposed lifetime health insurance plan for astronauts and their families. The coverage would be delivered through an integrated network of NASA medical facilities and community-based providers.
“It’s both a moral and scientific issue,” said Cory Shaw, chief administrative officer for University Medical Associates, the physician group practice for UNMC. “Being an astronaut is the most dangerous profession on earth.”
NASA does not currently provide uniform or comprehensive lifetime health care coverage for astronauts after they complete their NASA service, Shaw said. As a result, NASA is not getting sufficient data about the long-term effects from manned space flight. Another problem is that when astronauts leave NASA, they are covered by a variety of health care plans, not a single plan.
“Mankind needs the data on the astronauts to measure the long-term effects of space flight. Issues such as weightlessness, radiation and isolation have serious ramifications on mankind’s ability to travel for longer periods into space,” Shaw said. “Decisions made today could help future generations live longer lives in space and here on earth.”
UNMC also assisted NASA in developing a plan on how NASA can provide fertility services for astronauts and their spouses. Because of the inherent danger associated with their profession, some astronauts and their spouses want to be able to bank sperm and eggs.
“NASA has been evaluating ways to improve support systems for astronauts and their families in the wake of the February 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster,” Shaw said. “These projects are a big deal to NASA, as they address important social issues faced by all astronauts. We are honored to have been chosen by NASA to work on these projects.”
Shaw said UNMC was selected because of its reputation and because it did not have a significant relationship with NASA.
While at UNMC, NASA officials will tour a variety of areas, including the research lab of Gloria Borgstahl, Ph.D., a UNMC crystallographer who has been funded by NASA for eight years. Her experiments have been flown to the International Space Station’s Destiny Laboratory. Dr. Borgstahl’s research focuses on solving problems relevant to the interaction of cancer cells with anti-cancer agents.
NASA officials also will visit the Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where researchers are collaborating with NASA on better ways to evaluate and restore neuromuscular health in astronauts following their return from space.
Dr. Williams is responsible for the health and safety of NASA employees in space and on the ground. He develops health and medical policies and provides oversight of health care delivery. He has extensive experience in aerospace medicine.
Dr. Lugg has led many expeditions to Antarctica and is the world’s foremost expert on living in extreme conditions. He has published more than 130 papers on Antarctic medicine, medical research, psychology, biology and other polar subjects. For the past 12 years he has collaborated with NASA, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and American universities on human studies in Antarctica.