Space Medicine

The Space Medicine fellowship is designed to help fellows become experts, leaders and teachers in the field of Space Medicine.

• For Academic Year 2024 we have implemented a more flexible elective/rotation system. This includes being able to overlap specific rotations and structuring clinical rotations to be longitudinal (for example doing clinical rotations on most Thursdays during the year vs doing 2 week long rotations at a time). This will allow for much more schedule flexibility especially with launch schedules and will allow for a more longitudinal learning experience. 
• Additionally, given their specific expertise in Bioastronautics, we have partnered with University of Colorado Boulder to provide Engineering courses to our fellows. These are remote courses and also allow for significantly more flexibility compared to in person courses. You are now able to take courses at CU Boulder, UCLA Samueli, or Caltech/JPL (note that the Caltech/JPL courses are in person and seasonal). 

Here is a draft schedule for a typical 2 year long Space Medicine fellowship: Fellowship Curriculum. 

Specific goals of the fellowship include

• Understand physiologic changes with relation to short-term and long-term human spaceflight and become familiar with the presentation of specific space-related pathologies, their diagnosis, treatment, and management. 
• Gain an understanding of the various systems that operate to maintain crew health and the role and duties of a flight surgeon in crewed spaceflight.
• Gain a historical perspective of clinical conditions that have occurred during spaceflight, their causes and management, and ultimate outcomes.
• Understand and contribute to the design of flight space equipment, biomedical equipment, and crewed vehicles to promote flight safety.
• Understand the basic principles and thought processes of aerospace engineering, biomechanical engineering, and materials sciences.
• Understand both non-medical (engineering) and medical mishaps in human spaceflight and their effects on astronaut health.
• Become proficient in the designing, integration, and implementation of medical systems protocols for space exploration.
• Provide medical support during all stages of human spaceflight including pre-flight, launch, orbital flight, and recovery operations.
• Gain expertise, either through simulated or real spaceflight events, in managing medical contingencies.
• Become proficient in all aspects of leading private medical conferences.
  Support research including health data collection before, during, and after human spaceflight missions.
• Become familiar with the potential challenges of practicing medicine in austere environments including on the martian surface through didactic discussions and analog missions.
• Through clinical training, become proficient in the fundamental principles and procedural skills needed to perform surgical (both general and orthopedic), interventional, ophthalmological, and dental evaluations and procedures and adapt this knowledge base for their applications in Space.
   

Experience

• Training with SpaceX, including in medical operations, research, engineering implementation, and formal flight surgeon training. 
• Additional aerospace medical training opportunities including with aerospace industry affiliates in the military and NASA.
• A formalized didactic curriculum with leaders in the field of Space Medicine.
• Graduate level engineering and bioastronautics training with the University of Colorado Boulder, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, and/or Caltech/JPL focusing on aerospace and biomedical engineering. 
• Austere medical environment training including with Mars surface analogs and arctic environments.
• Research opportunities with NASA, Caltech/JPL, SpaceX, UCLA Health, and other partnering institutions. 
• Specialized multi-institutional Toxicology, Hyperbarics/Hypobarics, and Ultrasound rotations with focus on space-related applications.
• Clinical Skills training and rotations with UCLA Health institutions including the Departments of General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Interventional Radiology, Ophthalmology, and Dentistry.

Professional Development

• Individual opportunities with space medicine, engineering, and other associated faculty.
• Regular meetings with the fellowship director including to discuss professional development.
• Opportunities with space medicine leaders to learn from and explore career options.

Clinical

• Clinical responsibilities include 4 clinical shifts per month as an attending physician in the ED in UCLA affiliated hospitals including Ronald Reagan, Olive View, Harbor, Westwood VA, Santa Monica, or other local emergency departments.

All rotations and their dates or structure are subject to availability and program director discretion

• UCLA employee with salary and benefits
• $2,000 CME allowance
• $2,000 computer allowance
• Four weeks of vacation
• Travel and lodging for rotations outside Los Angeles

If you’d like to learn more about the UCLA Space Medicine Fellowship please email spacemed@mednet.ucla.edu and we will add you to our email list. 

We have selected candidates for our fellowship slots starting in Academic Years 2024 and 2025. 

For fellowship starting in Academic Year 2026, interested applicants should send these application materials to spacemed@mednet.ucla.edu by November 15th, 2025 with a decision given Mid-December.

There will be 2 rounds of interviews in Late November and Early December, one with UCLA faculty, and the second with the SpaceX Medical Team. Interviews will be granted to qualified applicants by invitation.

Applicant Requirements

• Graduation from a 4-year ACGME accredited Emergency Medicine Residency training program (or equivalent, such as a 3-year ACGME program with 1-year spent in practice or another fellowship)
• Eligible to obtain a California Medical License  

Fellowship Director

Haig Aintablian, MD

Associate Program Director

Jo Feldman, MD

Current Fellows

Brandon T., MD 2023-2025 

Ghufran Syed, MD 2024-2026