Please submit your completed application by following this link. If you have any issues with the application form itself, please contact Meagan Rivers for assistance.

Application Timeline:

September 7 – Application available

October 15 – Application due (contact Benjamin Easter if concerns with your clinical schedule will prevent you from making this date)

November 7 – 18 – Interviews

December 15 – Notification of application status

Dual Degree Program in Medicine and Aerospace Engineering with Bioastronautics specialization (M.D.-M.S.)

Motivation

In 2019, NASA accepted the mandate to land the first woman and next man on the Moon within five years. These missions are a prelude to a human mission to Mars, the most complex technological feat our species has ever contemplated. Such missions will involve challenges that push humans to the extremes of their physiology, demanding spacecraft engineering and design beyond any current precedent in human spaceflight. To maintain human health and performance, the systems required for these missions will necessitate educating students with a multidisciplinary perspective who are prepared to become leaders in these fields.

The University of Colorado School of Medicine (SOM) and Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences on the Boulder campus have developed a dual degree program in Medicine and Aerospace Engineering with an emphasis in Bioastronautics that will award both MD and MS degrees after completion of a 5-year integrated curriculum. The interdisciplinary dual M.D.-M.S. degree program incorporates experts in medicine, engineering, spaceflight, education, analog simulation, and remote environment expedition support. The program aims to support clinical, educational, research, and design projects intended to serve the most extreme environments on and off Earth. The goal of this program is to educate the next generation of leaders in human spaceflight.

This is a first-of-its-kind program that will serve a growing need within the larger human spaceflight community for physicians with engineering backgrounds. We plan to create a cohort of students integrated into the space medicine community through a variety of opportunities including research, conferences, and mentorship. Students graduating from the program will be ideally positioned to, for example, pursue further training as physician flight surgeons, serve as medical officers for a human spaceflight company, or to conduct research or develop medical technologies required for long duration exploration missions. By earning combined degrees in medicine and engineering, students will have a unique perspective and greater capabilities to contribute to this rapidly advancing field.

Review more information by downloading the full informational packet here: MDMS Packet 2023.

September 7th in person lunch lecture

Applications due October 15, 2022