Discipline

Aerospace Medicine, Human Performance, and Safety Consultant

 

Summary

He specializes in aerospace human factors, aviation safety and patient safety, has a unique background as one of a very few qualified military pilot-aerospace researchers and experts. The first F-16 “Pilot-Physician” in the USAF, he was recruited to help reduce the incidence of accidents and fatalities from Spatial Disorientation and High Sustained G forces.  Later he worked for 6 years in aeromedical and human performance laboratories in the USAF and Britain’s Royal Air Force, and was the Chief Scientist (acting) of the USAF Armstrong Aeromedical Laboratory.  Having studied human performance in the air, and in high risk areas of hospitals, he is expert in both these domains, and has worked in knowledge and behavior transfer from cockpit to operating room and ER. Plus, he has been selected for leadership positions in hospitals and healthcare networks at the senior, executive level.

Areas of Expertise
• Psychophysiology and human factors of individual and group performance.
• Aerospace safety, accident analysis and prevention.
• Patient Safety in hospitals and outpatient care.
• Human acceleration and impact tolerance, ejection seat performance.
• Aircrew health and preventive medicine.
• Airsickness causation and treatment.
• Fear of flying causation and treatment.
• Human subject use in research.

 

Specific Competencies

Psychophysiology of human performance:
• Highly experienced at determining the combined effects of flight stressors: orientation, workload, acceleration, and altitude.
• Designed experiment to assess adaptation to cross-coupled, Coriolis forces in a planetary motion tactical flight simulator.
• Designed experiment to determine minimum type and level of training, correlated with state/trait anxiety, and with personality type, that will allow commercial space passengers to tolerate sub-orbital spaceflight.
• Studied, flew, and taught the interaction of physiology and workload demands in F-16.
• Designed, flew experiment to prove decrement in positive g tolerance from negative g.
• Designed, flew experiment to prove that pilot may falsely feel inverted after take-off.
• Project pilot in experiment to prove heat-load safety of occlusive anti-g ensemble.
• Evaluated in-cockpit mobility with occlusive anti-G ensemble.
• Analyzed USAF G-induced Loss of Consciousness (GLOC), and disorientation accidents.
• Designed system for tracking pilots’ eyes in cockpit.
• Analyzed deficiencies in FAA proposal on airline crew duty periods.
• Proved USAF stand-by Attitude Indicator is reliable from actual flight data.
• Presented analysis of cockpit warning systems at engineers’ conference.
• Learned Cockpit Resource Management and applied it in hospital setting

 

Aviation Safety and Accident Analysis.
• Designated F-16 Weapons System Flight Surgeon by Tactical Air Command.
• Member, consultant on accident investigation boards in USAF.
• USAF observer on Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry.
• Wrote systematic model of F-16 accident causation.
• Analyzed the emotional substrate of accident causation.
• Analyzed USAF accidents caused by Night Vision Goggles.
• Predicted future cockpit problems in national aeromedical safety lecture.

 

Human acceleration, impact tolerance, and ejection seat performance.
• Proved ejecting on the runway is as safe as above 2000 feet.
• Evaluated head, neck, spine injuries in USAF ejections.
• President, safety board certifying safe flight of heavier helmets with displays (HMD).
• Experimental subject in human neck impact tolerance experiment.
• Researched survival data in light aircraft accidents.

 

Aircrew health and preventive medicine.
• Directed and performed USAF, FAA flight physicals and waivers for 15 years.
• Evaluated pilots injured by ejection, burns, and phobias for fitness to fly.
• Designed, performed, analyzed mass screenings for cardiac risks at two USAF bases.
• Responsible for Shuttle astronaut rescue and treatment at Edwards AFB.

 

Airsickness causation and treatment.
• Desensitized over 30 airsick Royal Air Force aircrew in the air, returned all to flying.
• Analyzed 10 years of the treatment program.
- Elucidated desensitization effects, duration, and time-of-day factors.
• Flew research experiment into skin resistance as predictor of airsickness.

 

Fear of flying causation and treatment.
• Evaluated all RAF aircrew who had become fearful of flying, began ground treatment.
• Improved the Systematic Desensitization method of treatment to include actual psychotherapy in the air.
• 9 of 10 regained confidence and resumed military flight duties.

 

Use of human subjects in research.
• Consultant in human research ethics to ETC NASTAR, the spaceflight training company
• Member, Institutional Review Board, Oregon Health Sciences University, 2005-7
• Chairman, Institutional Review Board, Albany VA Medical Center, 2002-3
• Chairman, Human Use Committee at Armstrong Laboratory, 1996-7
• Member, Wright State University human use committee, 1996
• Medical monitor, human subject safety for high-risk centrifuge, impact track.

 

Academic Background
• B.Sc., US Air Force Academy, extra courses for Major in Public Policy, 1963
• USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training, 1963-4
• M.D., Albany Medical College, Albany, New York, 1974
• Diploma in Aviation Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, London, England, 1992
• MBA, University at Albany 2002
• Surgery-Medicine Internship, Albany Medical Center Hospital, Albany, New York.1974

 

Additional Academic Activities / Honors
• US Delegate to the Medico-Physiologic Committee, Federation Aeronautique Internationale, 2002-
• Assistant Professor, Department of Family Practice, Oregon Health Sciences University
• Assistant Clinical Professor, Wright State University School of Medicine
• Fellow, Aerospace Medicine Association
• Safety Committee 1990-8, Chairman 1997-2001
• Women’s Issues Safety Subcommittee, 1994-7
• Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society
• Fellow, American Academy of Family Practice.
- Recertified 1993-2000.  Current in BLS, ACLS
• Member, Editorial Board, Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine, 2004-
• Member, Editorial Board, Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments, 2000-1
• Member, SAFE Association.  Program Committee Chairman, Wright Brothers chapter, 1997
• Senior Service School: National Security Management, 1980
• USAF Primary Course in Aerospace Medicine, 1982
• Crash Survival Investigator's School, Tempe, Arizona, 1984
• USAF Commanders' Course, 1985
• Graduate courses in statistics, public health, University of South Florida, 1984-.
• TQM basic and advanced courses in methods, strategic planning, SPC, metrics, 1989-95
• Joint Commission Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations TQM course, 1995
• Past President, International Association of Military Flight-Surgeon Pilots, ASMA
• Member, Aerospace Human Factors Association
• Decorations:  Distinguished Flying Cross, 10 Air Medals
• Promoted early to Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel

 

Professional Experience
• RTI Group, LLC, Annapolis, MD, Aerospace Medicine, Human Performance, and Safety Consultant – 2017 to Present
• Assistant Clinical Professor, teach military aviation medicine to graduate level physicians.
• Principles of Clinical Medicine course, first year medical students, Private University, 2005-Present
• Chief Medical Officer, VA Northwest Network, Vancouver, WA, 2004-
• Director, Medicine and Surgery, US Veterans Affairs Upstate New York Network 1999-2004
• Chief, Aeromedical Services and Chief Scientist (Acting) Armstrong Laboratory, Crew Systems Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 1995-97.
• Commander, 2nd Medical Group Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, 1993-95
• USAF Exchange Officer with Royal Air Force (RAF) Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, Hampshire, England, 1989-93
• Commander, Air Force Systems Command Hospital, Edwards AFB, California, 1988-89
• Commander, 432 Medical Group, Misawa Air Base, Japan, 1985-88
• Chief, Aeromedical Services MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, 1982-85
• Noble Hospital, Westfield, Massachusetts 1975-82
• Partner, Family Medicine Associates, Westfield, Massachusetts, 1975-82
• Designed and taught basics of G tolerance to all F-16 pilots.
• Taught Advanced Life Support to all trainee RAF nurses and operating theater technicians

 

Professional Associations and Activities
• Lectured in accident prevention to RAF Diploma in Aviation Medicine students.
• Yearly presentation or panel chairman at Aerospace Medicine Association Scientific Meeting.
• Invited to Norwegian AF, Indonesian AF by name to lecture on G, Workload topics.

Promotion