Our Recent Activities

Committees and collaborations

Invited to join the SolaMed Space Technical Advisory Council (STAC) (October 2024).

Reappointed as a member of the alpineSAR Medical Advisory Committee for 2024-25.

Invited supervisor/reviewer for the C-MIST PROJECT (ICAD/S4H Collaboration).

AsMA Scientific Program Committee Remote Reviewer for 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting abstracts.

Invited to join the ASRI Advanced SpaceLife Research Institute) Subject Matter Expert Council.

Member, UNOOSA Space and Global Health Network Curriculum Taskforce (June 2024).

Contributor to the OSMED Steering Committees (Organization for Space Medicine, Engineering and Design), including appointment as interim Vice-President for Operations.

Named as an advisor for a Swinburne University of Technology successful grant application for a proposed project on optimising exercise modalities during human spaceflight.

As Parliamentarian, assisting the AsMA Space Surgery Association with its non-profit incorporation and application for USA s.501(c)(3) status.

AsHFA (Aerospace and Human Factors Association) representative for the AsMA Awards Committee.

Review of proposed new Colbrow Medics clinical practice guidelines and member of Clinical Advisory Committee as Chief Medical Officer.

As Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, providing the Australian Ski Patrol Association with updates about new relevant ANZCOR First Aid guidelines, and revised chapters for the Advanced Emergency Care Manual.

Published papers

“Reaching Mars: Medical Risks and Potential Surgical Conditions in the Martian Environment and during Long-duration spaceflight” published in the Journal of Space Safety Engineering (written with mentees Dr Dora Babocs and Angela Preda): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468896724001265.

Journal: Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
Title: Challenges to developing Astropharmacy: A qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework
Corresponding Author: Dr Li Shean Toh, Co-Authors: Virginia Wotring; Rowena Christiansen; Nathaniel Szewczyk; Matthew J Boyd; Claire Anderson; Volker Hessel; Philip M Williams; Luke Sawyers.

Presentations and Interviews

Co-author on IAC 2024 presentation on “Emerging Needs in Space Medicine Education, Training, and Research: A Multilateral Perspective“, 16 October 2024.

Co-author on AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Commercial Spaceflight scoping review Musculoskeletal Team presentation for ICAM 2024 (04 October).

Presentation for the Melbourne Space Program – Health Regs in Space – Supporting Space Missions, 25 September 2024.

Guest speaker for AMSA (Australian Medical Students’ Association) Careers in Global Health Event on 07 September 2024.

Judge and guest speaker for the 2024 University of Melbourne Technical Innovation in Surgery Prize – Space Medicine poster competition (04 September 2024).

Interviewed by news.com.au for an article on the two Starliner astronauts spending and extended time in space and the health risks. Published 31 August 2024: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/chicken-legs-syndrome-stranded-astronauts-face-health-risks/news-story/36fa192623a9623e0ca10b48767f6225.

Interview for the Space Surgery Association newsletter.

“I am not a rocket scientist” audio podcast (Anay Ashwin), 19 July 2024.

Abstracts and articles

Co-author on IAC 2024 paper on “Emerging Needs in Space Medicine Education, Training, and Research: A Multilateral Perspective“, 16 October 2024.

Invited to be a Section Editor for new Procedural Medicine for Spaceflight textbook

Co-author on articles submitted on “Space Oncology: A Comprehensive Systematic Scoping Review” and dermatitis in space.

Author of a draft Aerospace Nursing textbook chapter on “An Overview of Space Travel Health and Human Performance Risks“. Co-author for another chapter on “Building an Interprofessional Aerospace Health Care Team“.

Three short articles for the 2023-2024 AMSRO Orbiter on “Space health for medical students takes off in Melbourne, Australia“, “Gravity, or the Lack Thereof…”, and “NASA’s Five Hazards of Human Spaceflight and Countermeasures“.

Awards

AMSRO (Aerospace Medicine Students and Residents’ Organisation) Outstanding Mentorship Award 2024.

AsMA Associate Fellows Group (AFG) Service Award as Informatics Chair for 2023-24.

Aerospace Human Factors Association (AsHFA)

Elected as a new Fellow of the Aerospace Human Factors Association (AsHFA), May 2024

GEO Health CoP presentation

Presentation for the GEO Health Community of Practice Telecon: Focus on Asia-Oceania on 14 May 2024:

Advisor for Metakosmos

Link: https://metakosmos.com.au/people/dr-rowena-christiansen/.

Space surgery presentation at AsMA 2024 in Chicago

Presented by Dr Dora Babocs on behalf of the team:

‘Space health’ course poster presentation at AsMA 2024

A poster based on student reflections at the end of the 2023 interation of “Human health in the space environment” MD1 Discovery subject at the University of Melbourne Medical School was presented on our behalf by Professor George Pantalos at the 2024 Aerospace Medical Association annual scientific meeting in Chicago.

Abstracts and articles

Proposed article submitted for the Wilderness Medical Society and Wilderness & Environmental Medicine special issue on Space Medicine & Health Systems: https://wms.org/WMS/WMS/Research/WEM/Space-Health—Medicine-Call-for-Papers.aspx. Topic: “Space health for medical students launches in Melbourne (Australia)“.

Co-author on two abstracts for the AsMA-ESAM-IAASM-SoFRAMAS Joint Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, 3-5 October 2024 www.icam2024.com, one on the international challenges in aerospace medicine education and training, and the other on behalf of the Musculoskeletal team as part of the AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Commercial Spaceflight scoping review project.

2024 Australian Space Awards

2024 Australian Space Awards

2024 Australian Space Awards

Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA)

• Reviewer/judge for the 2024 AsMA Scholarships
• Reviewer/judge for the 2024 AMSRO Trailblazer Scholarship and the SMA Scholarships
• Reviewer/judge for the 2024 AsMA Associate Fellows Group Ellingson Award
• Member, 2024 Space Surgery Association Nominating Committee
• Member, 2024 AsPS Luncheon Committee
• Member, 2024 AsPS Nominating Committee
• Member, 2024 all-AsMA Social Committee.

AsMA AMSRO Award Nominations

Honoured to be nominated by my mentees for the 2024 AsMA AMSRO (Aerospace Medicine Student and Residents’ Organisation) Outstanding Mentorship Award and the Anita Mantri, PhD Memorial Award.

A/AA A24 Airspace Awards

• Organisational nomination for the Melbourne International Space Festival.
• Personal nomination for Dr Rowena Christiansen.

GEO Health CoP

2024 Australian Space Awards

Honoured to be selected as a finalist in three categories:

Space surgery paper

A paper written together with mentees Dr Dora Babocs and Angela Preda on “Cis-Lunar and Surface Missions: Health Risks and Potential Surgical Conditions” has been published in the Journal of Space Safety Engineering (first in a series of papers that we hope to publish): https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1izZN_u8jxEDop.

Roles and Invitations

Co-founder of the International Humans in Space Summit, Tokyo, Japan, 11-13 November 2024.

Mentor for 2024 University of Melbourne Technical Innovation in Surgery Prize – Space Medicine poster competition.

Invited to be a repeat clinical mentor for the 2024 Melbourne BioInnovation Student Initiative (MBSI).

Invited to join the advisory panel for the “Human Reproduction and Sexual Health in Space: Defining a community and the roadmap Expert Symposium“, 2-3 October 2024 Space Center Houston.

Dr Rowena Christiansen was invited, on behalf of the Maldives Space Research Organization (MSRO) and the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), to be a guest speaker for the 10th Asia-Pacific Space Generation Workshop 2024 (AP-SGW 2024), to be held in the Crossroads, Maldives on April 22nd-24th, 2024.

The ad astra vita project was invited to participate in an Australian Space Agency delegation to the European Astronaut Centre and DLR, the German Aerospace Centre, in Cologne, Germany, in mid-March 2024: https://www.space.gov.au/news-and-media/opening-doors-for-human-spaceflight-collaboration.