2021-2022 Executive Committee
Ari
Epstein, DO
President
A native of northern Illinois, Ari is now a third-year resident in Family Medicine at Northwestern University. Ari is grateful for AMSRO's strong mentoring network for connecting him, as a medical student, with supportive research and clinical mentors. With their help, he has presented and written on translational research from spaceflight operations and had amazing experiences at both the NASA Johnson Space Center Aerospace Medicine Clerkship and UTMB Principles of Aviation and Space Medicine course. He most enjoys presenting to elementary and high school STEM students to talk about the multidisciplinary professional opportunities (and really cool science!) Aerospace Medicine offers.
Ben
Johnson, MS3
Vice President
Ben is a third year medical student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is honored to serve as AMSRO Vice President. Previously he was secretary of AMSRO, and has collaborated on a number of committee including mentorship, outstanding mentorship award, scientific paper award, international outreach, and diversity. His aerospace research interests include changes in the human microbiome in isolation, the psychology of polar exploration, computer detected team psychology measures, space radiation effects on the CNS, and vestibular function in microgravity. He was a Sally Ride Intern at NASA JSC in 2017 and received the Anita Mantri, PhD Memorial Travel Scholarship from AsMA in 2020. He is greatly invested in promoting mentorship and helping students find reliable information and opportunities in aerospace medicine.
Christine
Schwartz, MD
Secretary
Christine is a second-year Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Missouri-Columbia. As an Iowa native, she graduated from undergrad and medical school at the University of Iowa. As an AMSRO member, she has served on the outstanding mentorship award committee, diversity scholarship committee, scientific paper award committee, Anita Mantri memorial award committee, and is thrilled to serve as the 2021-2022 AMSRO Secretary. Christine participated in NASA’s JSC October 2019 clerkship. Her space motion sickness treatment project developed at the JSC clerkship was presented at the 2021 AsMA conference in Denver. On her days off, she spends time with her pets, enjoys crafting, gardening, and outdoor adventures.
Travis
Lambert, MD
Treasurer
Membership Coordinator
Travis is a 1st year Family Medicine resident who has an interest in sports medicine and this field's application in Aerospace Medicine. He has served on numerous committees during his medical school and undergraduate careers including Volunteer Coordinator, American Medical Student Association (AMSA); Vice president, AMSA; and Treasurer, Beta Sigma Mu. Travis participated in the April 2021 NASA Aerospace medicine clerkship where he worked with the risk management department on pioneering the use of Directed Acyclic Graphs to assess mission risk and mitigations for those risks. Travis is excited to work with AMSRO and continue to learn more about this sector of medicine.
Riley
Ferguson, MS3
Parliamentarian
Historian
Riley is a third-year medical student at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Having always loved aviation, Riley obtained her pilot's license in high school and continued her aerospace interests by founding AviaDORES at Vanderbilt University during her undergraduate years. She completed a Bachelor's of Science in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts in English while completing an honors thesis focused on single-particle quantum dot imaging. She received the Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagle Internship in 2018 and worked with DAHER aviation creating aerospace medicine educational materials, with a specific focus on hypoxia. She continued her work on hypoxic states at the University of California San Francisco this past summer. Riley is thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the AMSRO community.
Marlee Mason-Maready, MS2
Chief Editor (Orbiter)
Marlee is in her second year at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in the Detroit metro area. She discovered aerospace medicine just before starting medical school and has since co-founded Michigan's statewide AMSRO chapter to help introduce others to this unique and fascinating specialty. She is particularly interested in researching surgical capabilities for long-duration spaceflight and is grateful to be part of organizations like AMSRO where people geek out about space medicine just as much as she does. In her spare time, Marlee likes to travel, weightlift, take care of her 50+ plants and sing in the car.
Corey
Morris, OMS4
Webmaster
Social Media Officer
Corey is a fourth-year medical student at Lincoln Memorial University's DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in the great state of Tennessee! Corey doesn't have much experience with aerospace medicine but is always willing to learn new things. (He wants that to be an encouragement to let anyone know they can be a part of this wonderful, welcoming organization even though they may not have much experience in the field). This is Corey's second year serving as AMSRO's Webmaster & Social Media Officer. Corey is interested in most things related to Human Space Flight, so if you have anything to share, send it his way! He also enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his dog and family.
Karen
Ong, MD
Resident in Aerospace Medicine Representative
Karen Ong is a physician-scientist who completed a residency in internal medicine and is now a first-year aerospace medicine resident at UTMB. She is passionate about science, medicine, public health, and interdisciplinary research. Her area of research is the mathematical biology of infectious diseases, and she hopes to bring a quantitative approach to space physiology. As your AMSRO Resident Representative, she hopes to continue helping to level the field for access to aerospace medicine, increasing the diversity of AMSRO and future aerospace medicine specialists, and helping interested students better understand the field of aerospace medicine and how to prepare for it. She is a private pilot with an instrument rating, a SCUBA diver, and an enthusiast for human-powered adventures of any sort. She currently spends most of her free time running and dreaming about the next big trail adventure.