{"id":151572,"date":"2026-03-18T07:10:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=151572"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:10:28","slug":"progressing-the-final-frontier-of-medicine-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/progressing-the-final-frontier-of-medicine-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressing the Final Frontier of Medicine: Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UCF\u2019s leading space medicine experts, valued strategic partners and an astronaut who holds NASA\u2019s record for spacewalks will gather April 10 in Lake Nona\u2019s Medical City to discuss how they can work together to keep space travelers healthy and use that research to create groundbreaking clinical innovations on Earth.<\/p>\n

The \u201cStar Nona 2026\u201d event is led by the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.<\/p>\n

The council includes physicians and researchers from UCF, Orlando Health, AdventHealth, the Florida Space Institute<\/a>, the Orlando VA Medical Center, Nemours Children\u2019s Health, business and industry.<\/p>\n

Star Nona 2026 Event Details<\/h2>\n

\u201cOur goal is to bring together space medicine leaders and experts from academia, medicine and the space industry to find more ways we can work together to research the health impacts of space flight<\/a> and how our discoveries can also improve healthcare on Earth,\u201d says Michal Masternak, UCF professor of medicine.<\/p>\n

An anti-aging and cancer researcher, Masternak leads the Lake Nona Research Council\u2019s space medicine research group. He also leads the College of Medicine\u2019s program that processes astronaut samples so physicians and scientists can analyze the immediate impact of space travel on astronauts\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n

Sessions will include presentations on:<\/strong><\/p>\n