Education & Training
Learning and Discovery Beyond Earth
The Space Medicine Section at UTHealth Houston offers comprehensive education and training opportunities designed to prepare learners for the unique medical challenges of human spaceflight and other extreme environments. Through a combination of academic instruction, hands-on experiences, and interdisciplinary collaboration, participants gain exposure to operational space medicine principles that translate across clinical, research, and mission-support settings.
Our education and training initiatives are designed to prepare learners for the unique medical challenges of human spaceflight and other extreme environments. Through a combination of didactic instruction, high-fidelity simulation, and experiential learning, participants gain exposure to operational space medicine principles that translate across clinical, research, and mission-support settings.
Training opportunities emphasize multidisciplinary collaboration and real-world application, incorporating simulation-based learning, extravehicular activity (EVA) preparedness, and close engagement with engineering and aerospace partners. Learners work alongside clinicians, scientists, and industry collaborators to develop practical skills in austere, remote, and operational medical environments.
Educational pathways span multiple levels of training, from medical students to fellows – offering flexible, individualized experiences that align with career goals in space medicine, EM, aerospace health, and extreme-environment operations.
Space Medicine Fellowship
The Space Medicine Fellowship is a two-year postgraduate training program designed for physicians pursuing careers in space medicine and extreme-environment healthcare. Fellows receive advanced clinical exposure, participate in multidisciplinary research initiatives, and engage in operational training experiences that support human spaceflight missions.
Fellows collaborate with faculty, engineers, and industry partners while developing expertise in space physiology, mission planning, simulation-based training, and medical systems design for austere environments.
COSMOS Medical Student Rotation
The COSMOS rotation is an immersive elective experience for fourth-year medical students interested in space medicine and aerospace health. Students participate in simulation exercises, guided research exposure, and interdisciplinary learning experiences that introduce core principles of operational and spaceflight medicine.
This rotation provides early exposure to the clinical, academic, and operational aspects of space medicine while fostering collaboration across disciplines.
McGovern Space Medicine Scholarly Concentration
The McGovern Space Medicine Scholarly Concentration allows medical students to pursue a structured space medicine track that culminates in a faculty-mentored scholarly project. This concentration provides deeper engagement with core concepts in space physiology, operational medicine, and aerospace health research.
Students in the concentration participate in dedicated coursework, simulation exercises, and interdisciplinary learning experiences that support their academic and career interests in space medicine. This program complements existing clinical training and offers opportunities for publication, presentation, and project leadership.