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Assessing astronaut health

By Matthew Bates

Last fall, Stephen Jones, D.O. ('10), got a chance to combine his passion for medicine with his fascination with space travel. He was selected for the NASA Aerospace Medicine Clerkship, where he participated in research to improve the medical evaluations given to space shuttle crews after missions.

The clerkship, based out of Wyle Labs and Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, selects ten medical students in their final year of medical school to study aerospace medicine and conduct research.

Jones’ program began in October and lasted four weeks. At NASA, Jones was tasked with improving and reducing a 28-page medical debriefing form for space shuttle crews. The document helps flight surgeons assess astronaut health and safety, and it aids research on the long-term effects of space flight on human physiology.

“The document was somewhat unpopular with the flight surgeons, and they had developed their own shorter, medically-focused debrief sheet,” Jones says.

His job was to take the different versions of the debriefing form and determine “which questions were important and which were superfluous or redundant.” He periodically met with NASA personnel to present and defend the changes he was making. At the end of the clerkship, he presented his work to the flight surgeons and staff. The final draft is under review by the Longitudinal Study of Astronaut Health Team and by the flight medicine staff.

Jones previously had worked with Jay H. Shubrook, D.O. (’96), F.A.C.O.F.P., F.A.A.F.P., on two research projects involving diabetes treatment. This experience trained Jones to work with electronic and handwritten medical records, giving him the skill set that NASA was looking for in candidates for this competitive clerkship.

“Steve was a pleasure to work with. He’s an independent worker with a knack for medical writing,” Shubrook says, adding that they recently submitted a paper for publication.

The NASA clerkship represented a rare experience for Jones, a longtime aerospace aficionado. “I felt very comfortable surrounded by people who were interested not only in health care but also in space exploration,” Jones says. “This gives me something unique to carry forward into my future practice.”

 

Doctor, doctor

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