Ohio Physicians and Biomedical Students Discuss Collaboration with NASA

According to Crain’s Cleveland Business, doctors at Summa Health System, one of the largest networks of hospitals and health centers in Ohio, and senior biomedical engineering students from the University of Akron in northeast Ohio recently met with representatives of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss a potential education partnership. Dr. J.D. Polk, chief of space medicine at NASA Johnson, spoke with the physicians and students about NASA's programs and needs for the future.

With NASA's hopes of sending astronauts to Mars, the organization is looking for people to help them anticipate the medical problems they might encounter during long periods in space and to find solutions for them. He believes Summa and biomedical students at the University of Akron could help in this endeavor by using their expertise in areas such as minimally invasive therapies and robotic surgery. Dr. Polk remarked, “We want to leverage cooperation with folks so we're not sitting in our own little vacuum.”

Click here to read the Crain’s Cleveland Business article on Ohio’s medical community collaborating with NASA.