Medical students explore aerospace medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
When Pedro Cito Silberman considered medical schools, The Ohio State University offered plenty of appealing opportunities, from excellent medical education, a robust commitment to research, exceptional patient care and sophisticated new health care facilities.
But at the top of his list? Ohio State’s cosmic connections.
The university is the lead academic partner for the Starlab commercial space station and George Washington Carver Science Park, a hub for in-space research and manufacturing. This partnership appealed to Silberman, who hopes to one day take his medical and research skills to space.
“I’m really interested in the biomedical research we can do up there and how it can affect us back on Earth, and what that means for patients and our advancements in research,” said Silberman, now a second-year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine who holds a PhD in pharmacology and previously conducted cancer research.
Silberman started the Aerospace Medicine Interest Group at Ohio State last year for students with similar passions. The group recently organized a trip to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Dayton, Ohio, where they visited the U.S. Air Force’s Residency in Aerospace Medicine (RAM) program and toured the Air Force Research Laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing. During their visit, they met with aerospace physiologists who train aircrews in how to handle G-forces and dangerous altitudes, toured altitude chambers, observed a human centrifuge where aviators undergo G-force training and explored aircraft fuselages where physicians, nurses and medical technicians practice for aeromedical evacuation and train to provide critical care during air travel.
Some students with interests in preventive medicine were intrigued to hear how aerospace medicine — with a focus on the health, safety and performance of air and space crew members and passengers — could fit into their professional aspirations. As more and more people travel to space, there is a rising need for research, physical exams to determine who is healthy enough to go to space and physicians who are trained specifically in the health risks of space travel, students learned.
During their tour at WPAFB, Silberman and other Ohio State students enjoyed learning about military residency pathways and the extensive collaboration that exists within military medicine. Learners were surprised, for example, to see that the U.S. Navy had a presence at the Air Force base, and that WPAFB is even home to the Navy’s giant spaceflight simulation device, dubbed the “Kraken.”
“Our learners bring a variety of interests to the Ohio State College of Medicine, and I am thrilled to see our students engaging with leaders at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” says Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, dean of the College of Medicine. “Experiences like this exemplify the spirit of interdisciplinary learning and service that we value deeply at Ohio State and serve as an example of how medical training can intersect with other exciting fields.”
Sarah Ellis, a PhD student in the Division of Anatomy, is the Military Community Advocate for the College of Medicine and helped coordinate the tour for the Aerospace Medicine Interest Group. She enjoyed hearing from RAM leaders about the ways innovations in the military, like the use of telemedicine, can have far-reaching impacts.
“Military and aerospace operations put you in such a unique situation; you have to be innovative,” Ellis says. “Those innovations come out of military medicine for the greater population because of the uniqueness of the environment, task and mission.”
