Page 39 - Revista FRONTAL Edição Especial iMed 12.0

IMED SESSIONS

VIRGINA WOTRING PHD

STUDYING DRUGS IN ZERO GRAVITY CONDITIONS

AUTHOR
SOFIA ALMEIDA SANTOS

Professor Virginia E. Wotring studied
Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida
State University (USA) and later on, she
completed her Ph.D. at Saint Louis Uni-
versity (USA) on Pharmacological and
Physiological. Her postgraduate research,
conducted at the University of Alabama
(USA), was centered on neurobiology,
focusing on the structure, function and
pharmacology of the ligand-gated ion
channels of the nervous system.
Since then, Wotring occupied sever-
al relevant positions: Discipline Lead of
Pharmacology at NASA Johnson Space
Center (Houston TX USA); Science and
Technology Integration Manager at the
National Space Biomedical Research In-
stitute (Houston TX USA); Deputy Direc-
tor and Chief Scientist at the Translational
Research Institute for Space Health (TX
USA); as well as Associate Professor at the
Center for Space Medicine and Depart-
ment of Pharmacology and Chemical Bi-
ology at Baylor College of Medicine (Hou-
ston TX USA).
Currently, she’s working at the Inter-
national Space University, researching
human performance in space, examining
the changes in physiology and pharma-
Regarding her area of interest, Profes- tion exploration missions. The main goal
cology that occur in the environment
sor Virginia Wotring is the author of the of her work in the field of space pharma-
of a space mission – an example of an
book ‘Space Pharmacology’, in which she cology is to make space travel healthier
extreme environment, given that is con-
reviews the current knowledge regarding and more productive, making available
fined, closed, and associated with micro-
the use of pharmaceuticals during space- all the medical data collected in days of
gravity and elevated radiation. Her work
flights and it includes multiple considera- crewed space flight.
ranges from the molecular level to that of
tions looking forward to the new medical
the whole human body.
challenges we could face on longer dura-

SPECIAL EDITION — 37