Lehnhardt named director of Space Medicine Program
The Space Medicine Program at UTHealth Houston welcomed Kris Lehnhardt, MD, as its new director, effective Jan. 1, 2025.
“Dr. Kris Lehnhardt brings a remarkable blend of expertise, innovation, and passion to our rapidly expanding UTHealth Houston Space Medicine Program,” said Bentley J. Bobrow, MD, FACEP, vice president for Healthcare Innovation at UTHealth Houston and the Nancy, Clive and Pierce Runnells Distinguished Professor in Emergency Medicine. “His leadership and visionary approach will undoubtedly elevate both our program and the field of space medicine in Texas to unprecedented heights as we advance human health and performance in the most challenging environments. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Lehnhardt to our team and eagerly anticipate the transformative impact he will have on space exploration and medicine.”
In this new role, Lehnhardt will be leading the advancement of current and future space medicine initiatives at UTHealth Houston, which includes the already established and successful Space Medicine Fellowship. Future focus areas will include expanding educational and training opportunities in the space medicine field for health care providers, developing interdisciplinary relationships that will enable new applied research and development activities, and adapting space medicine technologies for Earth applications to improve rural and remote healthcare delivery.
In addition to his appointment as director of the Space Medicine Program, Lehnhardt is a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He joins McGovern Medical School from Baylor College of Medicine, where he held joint appointments in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Center for Space Medicine.
Additionally, Lehnhardt is an adjunct professor at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, where he served as the chair of the Human Performance in Space Department at the Space Studies Program in 2015 and 2016, as well as co-chair in 2024.
From 2018 to 2024, Lehnhardt served as the Element Scientist for Exploration Medical Capability for the NASA Human Research Program. In his role, he provided medical and scientific leadership guidance, expertise, and oversight to clinicians, scientists, and engineers who are designing future NASA medical systems for human space exploration. Additionally, he has served as a medical officer in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA Johnson Space Center since 2022 and served a one-month rotation as the NASA Medical Officer at the McMurdo Station Medical Clinic in Antarctica.
Lehnahrdt also completed a six-month rotation as an Operational Space Medicine Physician in the Space Medicine Operations Division and a three-month rotation as Deputy Chief Scientist in the NASA Human Research Program.
A well-respected physician-scientist in the field of space medicine, Lehnhardt won the Aerospace Medical Association’s Eric Liljencrantz Award for excellence as an educator in aerospace medicine in 2023 as well as the NASA Johnson Space Center Director’s Commendation Award for sustained exceptional services at the Human Research Program Exploration Medical Capability Element Scientist for NASA’s Artemis and Mars missions.
He was named a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2014 and a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association in 2020. Lehnhardt is also a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
“I am very excited to be joining UTHealth Houston as it paves the way forward in the field of space medicine, a rapidly expanding field that will enable human space exploration and improve the lives of people here on Earth,” Lehnhardt said. “We are approaching an inflection point in human spaceflight. Soon, there will be many, many people living and working in space, visiting space, and exploring space. New medical capabilities are needed to help those people survive and thrive in that hostile environment and every new technology that we develop for human spaceflight can be adapted for terrestrial applications.”