ABSTRACT

The limitations of medical care available in Space Exploration are dramatic and daunting.  One previously novel medical resource available in Low Earth Orbit was ultrasound (US), originally launched as a research tool.  After studies in the weightlessness of Parabolic flight confirmed the basic validity of using Clinical US in weightlessness, US has been continuously studied and refined for use in space where it has become the backbone of Space Medicine.  As clinical US typically requires a highly trained user, and none was available in space, NASA developed the paradigm of using earth-based experts to guide minimally trained users remotely, known as Remote Telementored US (RTMUS).   The TeleMentored Ultrasound Supported Medical Interventions (TMUSMI) Research Group among others has conducted many campaigns to translate RTMUS to under-resourced terrestrial settings.  The paradigm of remotely enabling first responders and even the naïve public to manage catastrophic injury has expanded beyond diagnostics to other life-saving interventions.  Recently TMUSMI has engaged in research to combine RTMUS with drone-delivered first responses, and to work with the Center for AI & Robotic Excellence in medicine (CARE) at Purdue University to study autonomous guidance of LSIs in austere environments including space exploration.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Kirkpatrick graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Ottawa, with fellowships in Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree in Epidemiology at the University of British Columbia. 

He is past President of the Trauma Association of Canada and Abdominal Compartment Society.  Dr. Kirkpatrick has more than 600 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, mainly concerning telemedicine, intra-abdominal hypertension and sepsis, and aerospace medicine.  His Web of Science H-factor is well over 71.  He is a past-President of the Trauma Association of Canada and the Abdominal Compartment Society, as well as past executive member of the Canadian Emergency Ultrasound Society and the Canadian Association of General Surgeons Evidence Based Reviews in Surgery Committees.  He has consulted for the Canadian Space Agency and the National Space and Aeronautical Agencies.  He served in the Canadian Forces for 39 years as a regular and reserve member including serving oversees in both Gulf War One and in Afghanistan.  He is a former Paratrooper and Flight Surgeon and currently maintains a Commercial Pilots license. He has completed over 500 parabolas of parabolic flight research.  He was the Global Principal Investigator for the Closed or Open after Laparotomy for Source Control or COOL Trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03163095), and the Director of the TeleMentored Ultrasound Supported Medical Interventions (TMUSMI) Research Group.