Josef Schmid (flight surgeon)


Josef F. Schmid is a German-American physician, NASA flight surgeon and a Major General in the United States Air Force Reserves. He served as an aquanaut on the joint NASA-NOAA underwater exploration mission in May 2007.

Education

Schmid was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. He graduated from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, in 1988 with an Honors degree in biology. While at Belmont Abbey College, Schmid was a summer intern at NASA. He received his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 1992. He completed his family practice residency at David Grant USAF Medical Center and then served tours in Okinawa, Japan, and Frankfurt, Germany. Following his active duty Air Force service, Schmid then obtained his Master of public health and aerospace medicine residency at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Schmid is board certified and a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He lives in Houston, Texas and is married.

Honors and awards

Schmid's special honors and awards include:
Schmid served as the deputy crew surgeon for the STS-116, which was completed in December 2006. His duties during shuttle missions included the primary care and medical certification for those assigned astronauts, medical training of the shuttle crew medical officers and crew and medical support during shuttle launch and landing. He also staffed the shuttle surgeon console in Mission Control during missions, where he monitored physiologic data during extravehicular activities and provided real-time telemedicine via private medical conferences directly with the crew. Schmid held shuttle Mission Control console certification and currently holds International Space Station surgeon console certification. Schmid flies as a T-38 crewmember and has flown many KC-135 Reduced Gravity flights as the medical monitor and as a subject for medical and surgical training. Schmid is a mentor for NASA's High Aerospace Scholars.
Schmid is a NASA flight surgeon in the Medical Operations Branch at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is also the NASA/UTMB Aerospace Medicine Residency co-director. Schmid served as the commander of the 433rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron in Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
In May 2007, Schmid became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. He was the first NASA flight surgeon to serve on a NEEMO mission. Schmid was the crew surgeon for the STS-120, which visited the International Space Station in October–November 2007. He served as crew surgeon again for ISS Expedition 23/24, and is serving as deputy crew surgeon for ISS Expedition 29/30.
Schmid's interests include surgeon-guided remote robotics, center-of-gravity studies for future lunar missions, and robotics demonstrations for schoolchildren.