Our Recent Activities – 2023 – the ad astra vita project

Space Surgery Association Newsletter feature, December 2023

Aerospace Medical Association Global Liaison and Outreach Committee (GLOC) appointment

2024 iGIANT Ambassador Award

Extremely honoured to receive this wonderful award and to participate in the amazing work being done by Dr Saralyn Mark and iGIANT. This wonderful project also provides some outreach initiatives for young people to participate in and frequent discussion roundtables: https://www.igiant.org.

Journal articles submitted for peer review, and mentor/reviewer

Co-author for a textbook chapter on “Vascular Surgery in Spaceflight“.

Contributing author for an academic paper on “Challenges to developing Astropharmacy: A qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework“, submitted to Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy.

Co-author on “Space Oncology: A Comprehensive Scoping Review“, submitted to npj Microgravity.

Co-author on two space surgery papers submitted to the Journal of Space Safety Engineering, based on presentations and papers for the 2024 IAC in Baku.

Mentor and reviewer for post-graduate dissertation prepared by Dr Dora Babocs: “The Potential of Utilizing Surgical Procedures for the Management of Vascular Emergencies during Long-Duration Spaceflight“. The dissertation received an excellent grade and high praise from the examiners.

AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Commercial Spaceflight Scoping Review project.

Team leader for the Musculoskeletal, Orthopaedic, and Renal (MSK) Team for the AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Commercial Spaceflight Scoping Review project. The scoping review is being conducted by ten different international teams based around different body systems, and is using Covidence and PRISMA as foundational components. The MSK team is currently wrapping up the initial stage of screening around 5,000 abstracts generated by a comprehensive search strategy. The next stage will be full-text review of the articles selected for inclusion.

Editing the videos from the 2023 International Humans in Space Summit

All the recordings from the 2023 International Humans in Space Summit are now available on the YouTube playlist. Further information about the Summit (including profiles for most presenters) can be found on the web page.

Proposed Aerospace Nursing Textbook

Part of an international team of authors, and contributing as a co-author to a chapter on inter-disciplinary health care teams, and the proposed lead author for a chapter on space health, including commercial spaceflight considerations.

Submission to the AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Aerospace Graduate Medical Education

Article for the “Space Zoo” website on behalf of AsMA

International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program, Houston 2024

Submitted a team project proposal around developing an international accessible aerospace medicine education and training program, a proposal for a workshop on extreme environments, and applications to be part of the supporting faculty.

Invited member, Star Harbor (USA) Medical Advisory Committee

Co-author on published article in BEATS

Presentation on space medicine for the National Engineering School of Sousse, Tunisia (ENISo) and the 12th edition of the Forum of Convergence ENISo-Enterprises (FCEE’12), 06 December 2023

Facebook event page: https://facebook.com/events/s/forum-de-convergence-eniso-ent/629367525809619/ and website: http://www.forumcee.com/wp.

Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA)

‘Remote reviewer’ member of the Scientific Program Committee for the 2024 Aerospace Medical Association Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago.

2023 IAC Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan

Co-author on two ‘space surgery’ presentations for the 2023 International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Melbourne International Space Festival 2023 and the International Humans in Space Summit 2023

Concept creator and co-organiser for SpaceFest 2023; Coordinator for IHS 2023. Presenter for the “Life in Space” Symposium and Instructor for the “Austronaut” Human Spaceflight Fundamentals Workshop.

NASA and Australian Space Agency visit to the University of Melbourne

SpIRIT Satellite Space Launch, 30 November 2023

Attended the launch as an invited guest and enjoyed mingling with local and national space industry leaders.

Article for ‘The Conversation’

Your article “Alone in a dark cave: what can we learn from extreme survival experiments?” has been published on The Conversation.

Here’s the link:
https://theconversation.com/alone-in-a-dark-cave-what-can-we-learn-from-extreme-survival-experiments-208300.

Please share your article amongst your networks. And to help us secure the widest possible audience for you and other authors, please encourage others to sign up to The Conversation’s newsletter.

Forbes Hungary and ‘space surgery’

In early September 2023, interviewed by Forbes Hungary for an article about ‘space surgery‘ and mentee Dr Dora Babocs.

Clinical Mentor for the MBSI BioDesign Competition

Melbourne BioInnovation Student Initiative (MBSI), is a registered charity and non-profit organisation, operated by volunteers from varying disciplines, including medicine, engineering, finance, and science. Beginning with only a small team of like-minded classmates in late 2020, it now counts over 100 volunteers and 200 members across the organisation. The Vinuri De Silva BioDesign Competition is designed and facilitated by the BioDesign Team of MBSI.

One of the teams mentored by our Founder won the competition in 2023!

Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, May 2024

Co-author on four abstracts (three on space surgery and one on space oncology) submitted for the Aerospace Medical Association Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, May 2024. First author on a poster abstract about student reflections on the University of Melbourne ‘space health’ subject and the Musculoskeletal Team contribution to the second panel abstract for the AsMA Ad Hoc Committee on Commercial Spaceflight Scoping Review project.

AWEMS 2023 Conference ‘Discover New Heights’ Guest Speaker

At ‘Discover New Heights’ AWEMS 2023 Conference we are extremely excited to have Rowena presenting on ‘Commercial Spaceflight: Risk and Reward’. Tickets to this year’s conference are available now. AWEMS members have access to discounted prices so become an AWEMS member today.

Mt Baw Baw Volunteer Ski Patrol

Long-standing appointment as Honorary Medical Officer. Appointed public member of the Mt Baw Baw Ski Patrol Public Fund Sub Committee.

NASA HRP IWS 2024

Co-author with Drs Dora Babocs, Mark Melin, and others, on three posters accepted for the 2024 NASA HRP IWS:

Traditional surgical methods and cutting-edge techniques: pioneering endovascular surgery in long-duration human space exploration
Surgical concerns from accelerated atherosclerosis during long-duration spaceflight
From a surgeon’s perspective: factors influencing wound healing during long-duration human deep space exploration.

Australian Space Awards 2023

Honoured to be selected as the winner of the “Innovator of the Year – Individual” category, and also to be nominated for the Excellence Award.

Accepted by Dr Gabrielle Caswell on my behalf.

Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans

Invited presentation on the new ‘Space Health’ course at the University of Melbourne:

Mentor and co-author for a poster on “Surgical Disciplines in Long-Duration Spaceflight” with Dr Dora Babocs and Angela Preda:

Invited to be a panellist as part of the Space Forum at the UIP 2023 World Congress and 37th AVLS Annual Congress, Miami Beach Florida, September 17-21, 2023.

Aerospace Physiology Society

Honoured to receive the 2023 AsMA Aerospace Physiology Society (AsPS) Fred A. Hitchcock Award for “Outstanding career contributions”, and also to be able to collect the plaque for the 2021 AsPS President’s Award in person.

AsMA Executive Committe

It is a huge honour and a very special career highlight to be the first Australian elected as a Vice-President for the Aerospace Medical Association (Vice-President International Services for 2023-24).

Semmelweis International Vascular Symposium

Co-author on a ‘space surgery’ poster (with Dr Dora Babocs and Angela Preda) accepted for the Semmelweis International Vascular Symposium, Budapest, Hungary, 18-20 May, 2023: “Review: Significance of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Surgery in Long-duration Spaceflight“.

Contributions

Reviewer/participant in the 2023 Texas State University/TRISH LBJ SHIP Mentoring Matters program:

Participant in the AsMA AMSRO Planetary Protection group, aiming to produce a set of informational guidelines for groups and individuals involved in the support of the processes of handling, securing, transport, storage, and other activities involving extra-terrestrial samples.

Participant in the AsMA Associate Fellows Group sub-committee for the establishment of a new AFG Scholarship.

Judge for the 2023 AsMA Space Medicine Association Scholarships. Member of the 2023 AsMA Space Surgery Association Nominating Committee and judge for the AsMA Space Surgery Association Investigator Award. Reviewer/judge for the 2023 AsMA Fellows Scholarship, the 2023 AsMA AMSRO Scientific Award, the 2023 AMSRO Anita Mantri, PhD Memorial Award, and the 2023 AMSRO Outstanding Mentorship Award. Judge for the Space Medicine Ireland Bursary 2023.

Australian Space Awards 2023

Honoured to be selected as a finalist in three categories:

Invited to Co-Chair the slide session “Hypoxia Potpourri” at the AsMA Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans in late May 2023.

Wound Care Masterclass

IAC (International Astronautical Congress) 2023

Co-author on two ‘space surgery’ abstracts accepted for the 74th International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan.
2-6 October 2023: “Cis-Lunar and Surface Missions: Health Risks and Potential Surgical Conditions” and “Reaching Mars: Medical Risks and Potential Surgical Conditions in the Martian Environment and Onboard”.

Space Science in Context 2023

26 January 2023: online poster presentation for SSIC 2023. Attendees had prior access to the poster slides and were able to engage in a 20-minute Q&A session.