Our Recent Activities – 2025

Committees and collaborations

Invited panel member for Mary Foley panel, AsMA 2026 (Denver).

Judge for Global Space Awards 2025

judging some ASRC presentations made by Students & Early Career Researchers..

Nominated for AsMA President Elect (13 Oct 2025) and Vice President.

Member, Space Reproduction Roadmap Consortium (SRRC) (1st Symposium Sept 2025).

Lecturing invitation from Zaheer Ali

Invitation to closed door reproduction in space symposium (check details in email)

AJF2025142 – Space Education and Science Innovation Series grant approved (participant in Dr Kate Kitagawa’s submission).

Mars Society Australia Research Committee (July 2025).

Request to be PhD supervisor for a pre-hospital medicine project.

Invitation from Professor Volker Hessel re PhD review/examination.

Judge for Space Medicine Ireland essay competition.

Foundation member of the new Space Nutrition Network.

Joined the new WADEM Climate Change Special Interest Group (SIG).

Invited to join the new Australia-Germany Space Alliance.

As an earlier Fellow, invited to join the revamped Ormond College Fellows Program.

Space Surgery Association Nominating Committee

Invited to become a member of the iGIANT Advisory Council.

Melbourne Bioinnovation Student Initiative (MBSI) – returning Clinical Mentor for the 2025 Biodesign competition.

Invited to participate in Space Education and Science Innovation Series 2025-26 Australia-Japan Foundation (AJF) Grant Round as a team member.

Member of the AMSRO Scientific Committee Award judging panel.

Mars Society Australia rep on the Australian Space Research Conference (ASRC) committee.

Member, Space Oncology Consortium.

Formal AIAA mentor.

Application for membership of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board (February 2025).

Invited to join staff for ISU SSP25 in South Korea.

Invited to lecture at MIT next spring in the space medicine/advanced bioastronautics class (perioperative presentation).

Appointed to Titans Space Industries Medical Board (resigned).

Awards

Top 100 women in Aerospace & Aviation 2025 #57 https://top100aero.space/top100women2025#manifesto.

AMSRO (Aerospace Medical Students and Residents Organisation) – Outstanding Mentorship Award.

I wanted to personally get in touch with you to congratulate you for being a finalist in the categories Academic of the Year, Female Space Leader of the Year – Enterprise, & Mentor of the Year at the upcoming Australian Space Awards 2025!

Included in First Round of Nominations Processed for the TOP 100 Women in Aerospace & Aviation to Follow on LinkedIn 2025.

Nominated for the Aerospace Medical Association 2025 annual awards in multiple categories.

Published papers

Christiansen, R. (2025). A Space Health Education Curriculum for MD Students at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Journal of Molecular Astrobiology and Space Medicine Research, 1(1), 1-7.

Space oncology article published.

Co-author on Trends in Cancer – Manuscript accepted TRECAN-D-24-00193R2 “From Cosmos to Clinics: Leveraging Space Innovations for Cancer Breakthroughs on Earth” (March 2025).

Small article for Vascular Specialist about wound-healing article (co-contributor/editor).

Presentations and Interviews

Interviewed for The Space Show (radio).

Presentation on “Cold injuries” for Austronaut workshop, 29 November 2025.

Contributor to discussion segment – SpacexMedicine.

Panel coordinator and participant – right to health – SpacexLaw.

Guest speaker, MSA Boot Camp event.

5 presentations and 2 posters for ASRC (one as mentor).

Invitation to speak at the Mars Society Australia Mars Boot Camp on 6 December (SpaceFest).

Invited panelist for the Space Architecture Symposium, Sydney 04 October 2025, adjacent event for the IAC. Panel on Space Medicine and Space Architecture (with OSMED).

Invitation to speak/be a panellist at the 2025 MBSI Symposium: Frontiers in Bioinnovation on Friday 10 October 2025.

Austronaut (3 days), Adelaide – invited lecturer, faculty.

July – two invitations to speak on podcasts (via LinkedIn), including Talking TechHealth on healthcare in space.

Talk for OSMED NICE COMMITTEE (Tue 08 July 2025/Mon 07 July (US)) International Pathways to Space Medicine.

Co-author on 2 x AsMA presentations (Dr Lisa McNamee, ISSRC).

Biomolecules workshop, invited participant, asked to give impromptu brief presentation on perioperative concept.

Virtual presentation for the Space Surgery Symposium in Houston, Texas, 1-2 April 2025, on perioperative care for spaceflight.

Invitation to talk to the National Space Society of Australia – 12 May 2025.

Invitation to talk to AMSRO Oceania Chapter.

Invited to speak on ABC News Breakfast TV on 19 March re Crew 9 return to Earth
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NBKC2025105070194

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-19/what-challenges-do-astronauts-face/105070194 (almost the full clip apart from the very start and last few seconds)

19 March – 6PR Perth – Recovery begins as SpaceX astronauts splash down on Earth after undergoing nine months in space
https://www.6pr.com.au/recovery-begins-as-spacex-astronauts-splash-down-on-earth-after-undergoing-nine-months-in-space/

19 March – interviewed by Candice Wyatt, journalist and news presenter, for Melbourne’s Channel Ten Eyewitness News 5pm news segment about Crew 9 and space health

10 News First: Afternoon – 19 Mar 2025 – https://10play.com.au/news/national/10-news-first-afternoon-19-mar-2025/tpv250319befzg

19 March – invitation to talk about space health for the ABC News 24 evening bulletin.

Co-author on poster “Wound Healing in Space: The Mechanisms of Damage, Treatment, and Approach to Probable Injuries During Spaceflight” for Mayo Clinic Wound Symposium (February 2025).

Co-author on presentation “Long Duration Spaceflight Missions Injury management Case Presentation” for the Ambassador Dinner at the Mayo Clinic Wound Symposium (February 2025).

Writing and Editing

Invited chapter proposal for Chapter 50: Importance of Implication of Space Medicine as Established Core Academic Curriculum in new space medicine textbook Call for Chapters: Current Trends in Space Medicine: Research and Practice From Astronauts’ Health to Space Genomics https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/9470.

Surgery in Space textbook, a collaborative effort between the Space Surgery Association and SAGES, invited co-author for the chapter on “Wound Healing & Nutrition”. 

Invited to lead authorship for the chapter on “Unique Challenges of Providing Surgical Care in Space”. Coordinating, reviewing and editing all chapter sections.

Contribute to introductory chapter for Procedural Medicine for Spaceflight textbook, and Section Editor (four chapters under management).

Appointment as an Associate Editor for npj Microgravity (February 2025).

Guest associate editor for Frontiers in Space Technologies – The database of peptide medications for human deep space missions demonstrates potential for on-demand “Astropharmacy.

Copy editor for Aerospace Human Factors (AsHFA) Newsletter (recurring).

Frontiers proposal regarding article on the perioperative concept accepted. Submit perioperative article for Frontiers.

Article on Perioperative Medicine in spaceflight published in July 2025 AMSRO Orbiter.

Invited to join Editorial Board for new journal, Journal of Molecular Astrobiology and Space Medicine Research.

Associate Editor invitation from Frontiers in Space Technologies for an article on space microbiology (February 2025).

Resubmit HHiSE article for WMS special edition.

Drafting Space Surgery Association By-Laws

Chief editor/drafting OSMED Policies and Procedures document

Elsevier – invitation to review new edition of medical textbook on clinical examination.

Invited to contribute a chapter for a new book: “The Human Element in Advancing 21st-Century Space Exploration”.

Reviewing

Reviewer for humans in space submissions for ASCEND 2026.

Re-review AMHP6649R1 – Research Article – X-ray and ultrasound for human spaceflight using the NASA IMPACT conditions list.

Review AMHP6776, “1. Protein marker ST2 and myocardial T1- and T2-mapping of cosmonauts after space flight.”

Invited reviewer for Resuscitation Plus: Manuscript Number: RESPLU-D-25-00320, Avalanche transceiver search times during avalanche companion rescue – a prospective randomized single-blinded cross-over study .

Reviewed article accepted for AMHP: “Carbon Dioxide as a Multisystem Threat in Long Duration Spaceflight.”

Review revised AMHP6712 (serotonin).

Review revised Frontiers article.

Review an article for Frontiers: Composition and interactions of the oral-gastrointestinal microbiome populations during health, disease, and long-haul space flights

Reviewer for Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance – first assignment for an article on imaging in space.

Review article for AMHP: Beyond the Air We Breathe: Trapped in a Cloud of CO₂, A Multisystem Threat in Long-Duration Spaceflight

Reviewer for Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance – first assignment for an article on imaging in space.

Abstracts

Perioperative medicine abstract for AsMA 2026 plus abstract for the Mary Foley panel.

Co-author on 5 x ISSRC abstracts.

ASRC abstracts x 7.

IAC 2025 abstract co-author – Space medicine for High Schoolers has been accepted for Interactive Presentation (IP) Session for IAC25.