Collaboration will develop space medicine program at Mayo Clinic

Monday, May 14, 2007

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A comprehensive space medicine resource for the entire civilian spaceflight industry could be provided under a memorandum of understanding that has been signed between Mayo Clinic in Arizona, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and Wyle Laboratories of El Segundo, Calif.

Through a successful collaboration, medical services, including screening, medical management and special environmental testing, would be available to spaceflight vehicle operators, suborbital spaceflight passengers, commercial space ports and other entities involved in the commercial spaceflight industry.

The three partners in the collaboration bring unique experience and skills to this civilian space medicine program. Mayo Clinic has a long tradition in Aerospace Medicine, dating back to work on the first G-suits and aircraft oxygen systems. In Arizona, Mayo has broad clinical and operational experience with one of the largest concentrations of board-certified specialists in Aerospace Medicine and Internal Medicine.

UTMB's Aerospace Medicine Program provides flight surgeons for NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Stations and Constellation Programs and Space Adventures commercial space travelers, as well as training for aerospace medicine residents.

Wyle's Life Sciences Group, based in Houston, Tex. is a leader in space life sciences, medical operations and preparing astronauts for human spaceflight. Of the almost 500 people who have journeyed to space, more than two thirds of them have been supported and trained by Wyle staff.

"This collaboration affords Mayo Clinic the opportunity to partner with UTMB and Wyle Laboratories to the highest degree of expertise to prospective space travelers," said Dr. Jan Stepanek, director of the Mayo Clinic Aerospace Medicine Program in Arizona. Stepanek is board-certified in Aerospace Medicine and Internal Medicine.

Dr. Richard Jennings, program director of the UTMB Aerospace Medicine Residency Program, said, "Working with Wyle and Mayo Clinic will enhance the services we can provide to both current and future customers, providing a uniquely qualified resource for the commercial space industry."

"Collectively, the partners will seek opportunities and develop mutual agreements to provide medical assessment and screening services to people considering space flight in an effort to assure that passengers remain healthy and well," said Dr. Vernon McDonald, director of Wyle's Commercial Spaceflight Service unit.

The Aerospace Medical Assessments are administered through the Mayo Clinic Executive Health Program in Arizona, allowing physicians to combine a comprehensive preventive health exam with the specific challenges of the respective flight profiles for each participant.

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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