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NASA announced last week that Dr. Kjell Lindgren and Dr. Serena Aunon, both assistant professors at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, are among nine new astronauts selected from a pool of 3,565 applicants. UTMB is one of Wyle's major subcontractors on its Bioastronautics contract, which provides medical support and other life sciences related services to NASA
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Dr. Lindgren is assigned to support NASA Mission Control and the International Space Station through the NASA/Wyle Bioastronautics Contract. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1995 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Mandarin Chinese. Dr. Lindgren studied medicine at the University of Colorado and graduated in 2002. He completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn., and a residency in Aerospace Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Tex. He is board certified in both Emergency and Aerospace Medicine.
In addition to supporting International Space Station operations from the Surgeon console in Mission Control, Dr. Lindgren is assigned to the Constellation Program, providing human systems support for the Orion Module design. Several months out of the year, Dr. Lindgren also supports operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, supporting astronauts training on Russian systems. He coordinated the Skylab Medical Operations Summit; a two-day meeting with Skylab astronauts and flight surgeons that sought to leverage Skylab expertise into recommendations for future Constellation operations. Recommendations from the summit are currently in the publication process. Dr. Lindgren is currently the deputy crew surgeon for STS-130 and Expedition 24.
Dr. Aunon, who is also an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, has served as the clinical currency coordinator for NASA flight surgeon training at UTMB as well as a medical monitor for the artificial gravity and bedrest projects. She supported the launch of spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Mission 14S and participated in the medical evaluation of other spaceflight participants through Space Adventures.
She has spent more than nine months in Russia supporting medical operations for International Space Station crewmembers in Star City including water survival training in the Ukraine. She is currently assigned as the deputy crew surgeon for STS-127 and Expedition 22, and she serves as the deputy lead for Orion - Medical Operations. She graduated in 1997 with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University and studied medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
UTMB has supported Wyle by providing operational support for the Shuttle program and International Space Station. UTMB and Wyle provide NASA approximately 10 physicians through Wyle's Bioastronautics Contract that, among many other activities, supports the International Space Station program at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, advanced medical projects, and the International Artificial Gravity Project.
In addition, UTMB physicians provide direct clinical care plus telemedicine support at the NASA-Johnson Space Center flight medicine clinic. UTMB has initiated telemedicine support for clinical services at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. It also provides Johnson Space Center Medical Operations with a clinical competency training program for NASA clinicians.
Wyle is a leading provider of high tech aerospace engineering and information technology services to the federal government on long-term outsourcing contracts. The company also provides biomedical and engineering services for NASA's human space missions; test and evaluation of aircraft, weapon systems, networks, and other government assets; and other engineering services to the aerospace, defense, and nuclear power industries.
Contact: Dan Reeder (310) 563-6834 Ref.: NR/09-2
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