Education

UVM-trained physician joins newest NASA astronaut class

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Dr. Imelda Muller, UVM School of Medicine 2017

On Monday, September 22, NASA unveiled its newest group of astronaut candidates, naming Dr. Imelda Muller, M.D., a University of Vermont alumna, among ten individuals selected for the nation’s next generation of space explorers, UVM announced.

Muller, 34, who grew up in Copake Falls, N.Y., was chosen from a highly competitive field of nearly 8,000 applicants. Her class marks the 24th group of astronaut candidates since NASA introduced the legendary “Mercury Seven” in 1959.

For Muller, who earned her UVM medical degree in 2017, the announcement was the culmination of a career spent at the intersection of medicine, the military, and human performance in extreme environments.

“With upcoming exploration missions, we are pushing the boundaries of human performance and the lessons that we learn, the knowledge that we gain, all of these things are going to help us to excel not just in space, but in areas of human health here on earth,” Muller said at the Johnson Space Center. “The future of space medicine is now and I’m incredibly honored to be here with this team.”

From the Sea to Space

Before medical school, Muller studied behavioral neuroscience at Northeastern University and later commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. She trained at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute and went on to serve as an undersea medical officer, providing support for operational diving missions and later for astronaut training dives at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston.

“That experience gave me the opportunity to work with multidisciplinary teams in experimental and saturation diving, and I developed a passion for learning about the way the body adapts in extreme environments,” Muller said. “This led me to pursue medical residency training in anesthesia, where I deepened that understanding of how our body responds when it’s under stress.”

After earning her M.D. from UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, Muller trained at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and then entered a residency in anesthesia and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At Hopkins, she became affiliated with the Human Spaceflight Lab, blending her clinical expertise with research into how human physiology adapts in space.

Muller’s selection has resonated strongly with her alma mater. UVM President Marlene Tromp, who attended the announcement in Houston, called it a historic moment for the university community.

“The UVM community is thrilled to see Dr. Imelda Muller joining NASA’s newest cadre of astronaut candidates,” Tromp said. “UVM’s Larner College of Medicine has always produced physicians who make a positive and profound impact on Vermont and the wider world. It’s wonderful to think that Dr. Muller has already extended that mission to the depths of the seas, in her work for Naval Sea Systems, and now into the stars. We are so proud to call Dr. Muller a UVM alum.”

UVM has long maintained ties to NASA through the Vermont Space Grant Consortium, part of a nationwide network that connects university researchers, faculty, and students with NASA programs. Larner medical students have also participated in NASA’s Aerospace Medicine Clerkship, a four-week immersion at Johnson Space Center that exposes future physicians to the unique challenges of space medicine.

Training for the Future

Muller now joins her nine fellow astronaut candidates in a rigorous two-year training program at Johnson Space Center. Their preparation will include survival training on land and water, extensive courses in geology, and countless hours in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab simulating spacewalks.

NASA’s astronaut corps plays a central role in the agency’s future missions, from supporting operations on the International Space Station to preparing for Artemis flights to the Moon — and eventually, human missions to Mars.

Muller, who has already charted a path from the depths of the ocean to the edge of human exploration, is ready to take the next step.

“Every stage of my journey has been about understanding how humans adapt in the most challenging environments,” she said. “Now, I have the chance to bring that knowledge into space — and to contribute to the next chapter of exploration.”

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Categories: Education, Science and Technology

19 replies »

    • What a profoundly ignorant thing to say from someone who couldn’t even dream of earning half these accomplishments. I’m sure if NASA needs someone to wipe a**es, they’ll call you Tom.

    • “Girl power” as you patriarchally refer remains nothing less than a reality as already evidenced by statistical data – more females applying to and accepted into college, more excelling and thereby accepted into med schools, in vet schools, etc.

      What is your machismo & women-loathing evidencing other than the stats proving there are many more males in prison, living in mommy’s’ basements, & suffering from gaming addictions than females?

      Remember… do steer clear from all emergency departments and medical centers!

      By the way, you somehow neglected all the queries I posed re: YOUR MCAT scores, residency, & college curriculum at institutes as esteemed as Johns Hopkins…..we ponder as to why….

    • Headline fixed:

      Another Unlettered Vermont Male Continues to Play “Captain Video” as Accomplished Physician Employed by NASA in Space Race

    • Caution: Please don’t conflate all of Vermont’s ‘unlettered Vermont male’ population with having Licata’s misguided perspective. While I don’t fall in the category (yes, I’m a male and I graduated from college), I know of many males who did not graduate from college and yet have achieved exemplary goals and are nonetheless reasonable enough and intelligent enough to understand your point… e.g., Charlie Kirk.

      This is not to say that DEI (the emphasis of diversity, equity, and inclusion – at the expense of merit) is worthy. It is not. As a standalone precept, DEI is just as misguided as Licata’s reaction to it. Again, I refer to Friedrich Nietzsche.

      “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

    • Tom Licata:
      I don’t speak “emoji”.
      I attended college.

      H. Jay Eshelman:
      DEI is indeed misguided at best, dangerous or even deadly at worst.
      As far as DEI targeting “minorities” however – women are neither a minority (men are) and both genders can & have been selected, dependent upon specific circumstance or context to be used to promote this diversity.
      As I explained already expressly – if a typical university or medical school wished to partake in DEI over the last few decades, they would be targeting male applicants, not females.
      Hence, the good doctor’s plethora of accomplishments are not “DEI” because of her gender.
      Thereby, the commenter’s opinion is pure fallacy, incorrect, and likely motivated by personal insecurity

      If I were to remain silent {about this erroneous claim by Tom} I would be guilty of complicity……Albert Einstein

  2. Tom,

    May I inquire as to what YOUR MCAT scores were when you applied to med school then, if the above comment you directed to Chris was correct? What school did you thereafter attend? What was YOUR GPA in your neuroscience curriculum? How about YOUR residency at Johns Hopkins? What was your specialty? Med schools remain the most challenging schools to attempt to gain entry to in this country especially circa 2010 when this now physician applied.

    In the event you aren’t aware, long before DEI was imposed by select schools for a relatively brief time period, particularly in an overt manner, females were achieving higher MCAT scores & qualifying for entry into all these prestigious institutions at a greater degree than were male candidates for years. The same was true of veterinary medicine schools & law schools are generally a 50/50 split. And colleges in general have more females applying and thereby attending than males to even begin with. Maybe if the boys knocked off all their gaming?

    If DEI were being employed during those years, Dr. Muller would have actually been at a distinct disadvantage – as UVM would have been seeking to promote male applicants at that time instead. You know, as institutes of higher learning did for a couple of centuries in this country as females were discriminated against via gender specifically.

    Female physicians are obviously just as gifted, competent, & knowledgeable as are their male counterparts – but do feel free, if you are ever in need of emergent care, to turn away from the care of all female doctors (the majority currently in many residency programs) & insist upon a “man” as your life hangs in the balance. Great idea.

    • Kathleen,

      Unknowingly-you proved my point-regarding DEI.

      The beauty of DEI is that someone like me doesn’t have to prove I’m right but that someone like you has to prove I’m wrong. Good luck with that.

      But I appreciate the Girl Power solidarity!

    • Tom, if no one can understand what your point is and you won’t share it, it’s not a very good point.

    • Chris,

      DEI is so pernicious because it harms both the truly competent and meritorious and the ones’ forwarded by their race, sex, etc.

      Dr. Muller may have been genuinely chosen but because of DEI, questions will always be asked if her appointment superseded a more competent male.

      And the harm done to the public, for example, by having a black pilot flying you home for Christmas, when said pilot was chosen-in the end-for their immutable skin color over a more competent white pilot.

      And lastly, the harm done to the DEI person pushed through the system when either they are not truly competent or they have the knowledge that they know someone was better qualified, hurts them, as they’ll never have the truth-be-known about their promotion.

    • Tom, did you just say that you assume that if a pilot is black, then they are not qualified to fly a plane? You might want to talk to someone but we’re done here.

  4. Tom Licata,

    Nix the emoji’s – we’re over age 12.

    You’ve more than adequately proven your Rhodes Scholar background; highly impressive.

    CONGRATS, DR. MULLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!