WACO, TX — The Surgeon General of U.S. Space Force will visit Baylor University on Feb. 26.
Col. Walter M. “Sparky” Matthews, a 1992 Baylor University graduate and Surgeon General of the newly formed United States Space Force (USSF), will speak to Baylor students about “The U.S. Space Force and the Future of Medicine in Space,” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in Room D.109 of the Baylor Sciences Building, 101 Bagby Ave.
“The discipline of medicine is about to take a giant leap forward into space. The technologies and doctrine required for treating patients in space – both medically and surgically – are not yet fully known, much less developed,” Matthews said. “The generation of medical professionals who will treat the first patients outside earth’s atmosphere are in college now.”
Matthews serves as the senior Department of Defense medical officer for the USSF, a military service branch tasked to organize, train and equip space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force.
Matthews’ lecture will give a brief, high-level overview of the USSF as well as discuss the future of the practice of medicine in space and how patients will be treated. He also will discuss the research areas needed to support space medicine and how Baylor University can take part in such research.
“With health being a key academic initiative in Baylor’s Illuminate strategic plan, Matthews’ lecture will inform the large pre-health cohort of students here at Baylor of the next frontier in medicine in response to the expected increase in future space travel,” Lee Nordt, Ph.D., professor and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said.
