Baylor College of Medicine and Center for Space Medicine

Baylor (www.bcm.edu) is recognized as one of the nation’s premier academic health science centers and is known for excellence in education, research, and healthcare and community service. Located in the heart of the world's largest medical center (Texas Medical Center), Baylor is affiliated with multiple educational, healthcare and research affiliates (Baylor Affiliates).

The Center for Psace Medicine (CSM) was established in 2008 to be a world academic leader in space biomedical research and education and to translate advances in knowledge and technology to benefit life on Earth. TRISH is a virtual institute awarded through a NASA cooperative agreement and is a consortium with Caltech and MIT.

TRISH operates through CSM and is charged by NASA’s Human Research Program with finding and providing federal grant funding to develop innovative approaches to reduce risks to humans from commercial flights in low Earth Orbit to deep space missions. Together the consortium engages a wide network of academic institutions, companies, government labs, commercial space providers, and others to lead a national effort in translating cutting edge emerging terrestrial research into applied space flight human risk mitigation strategies for exploration missions. Further information is available at www.bcm.edu/spacehealth.

Summary

The Center for Space Medicine's (CSM) Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) is seeking a highly talented and skilled individual to serve as its Chief Implementation Officer (CIO). The CIO will help define, implement, and execute TRISH's strategy for developing, integrating, validating, and operationalizing technologies that support human health and performance in spaceflight. The CIO will oversee the design and evaluation of systems, tools, and workflows developed through TRISH initiatives, ensuring they are usable, reliable, and effective in operational environments characterized by limited computing power, communication connectivity and bandwidth, personnel expertise, and other resource constraints. The candidate will guide the translation of research innovations into practical capabilities suitable for deployment in exploration space missions and other austere environments. He or she will work to ensure that these products operate successfully in real-world environments before and during deployment.

The ideal candidate will also substantially contribute to the TRISH Science Office by advising in their area of expertise on research projects within Institute initiatives and enable the achievement of key performance metrics, including NASA's adoption of TRISH products and strategies. Additionally, the candidate will assist the TRISH Chief Scientist and Chief Engineer in developing solicitations, reviewing proposals, evaluating project progress reports, and crafting technical reports to NASA to meet the Institute's mission and goals.

The candidate will be eligible for senior faculty appointment within a department that is aligned scientifically. The candidate will also receive an appointment in the Center for Space Medicine where he or she will contribute to the research and educational missions of CSM by leveraging expertise and connections. The candidate will also help to integrate CSM activities across the College and with their associated department. The candidate will formally report to the Center Director and the TRISH Director.

Job Duties

• Define, implement, and execute TRISH's technology integration, validation, and operational readiness strategy to support future Institute-funded projects (for example, the Hermes science initiative).
• Lead development of test and evaluation frameworks to assess usability, reliability, resource requirements, and operational effectiveness of TRISH-funded technologies. Conduct simulations, pilot testing, and readiness exercises. Oversee field testing and validation.
• Design and oversee testing activities that evaluate system performance under realistic mission constraints, including reduced computing resources, limited communications bandwidth, intermittent connectivity, restricted crew time, and varying levels of expertise.
• Carry out assessments for human-centered design, usability testing, and operational validation across TRISH initiatives.
• Assess technology robustness and resilience through simulation, field studies, analog environments, and operational demonstrations relevant to exploration missions.
• Guide data collection standards development for TRISH’s initiatives, particularly for HERMES, TRISH’s health data management platform for space. See more here: video
• Collaborate with TRISH partners to evaluate emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence-enabled systems and mixed reality platforms, for operational suitability, reliability, and user acceptance in spaceflight and remote-care environments.
• Support the TRISH Science Office by assisting with developing new solicitations and ongoing project reports to NASA, reviewing proposals, and providing technical advice to TRISH-funded researchers regarding data collection and standardization.
• Interface and communicate with representatives from NASA, funded researchers, academia, industry, or government partners, and other individuals on behalf of the Institute.
• Mentor CSM Medical Students in independent research projects.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education Required:

• Doctorate degree in STEM field or medicine is required.

Experience Required:

• Demonstrated success leading a team of scientists to complete projects and deliver outcomes.
• Demonstrated success in having secured competitive federal funding as a principal investigator: writing successful proposals, executing and completing a research project, and leading a team.
• Certification/Licenses/Registration: None Required

Preferred Qualifications:

• At least two years’ experience with carrying out translational research using human subjects in a limited-resources environment or other field setting (outside the laboratory).
• The ideal candidate has a good understanding of human physiology or anatomy. Familiarity with spaceflight challenges is a bonus.