James Michael Duncan, M.D.

"Chilean Miner Rescue: The NASA Experience"

Presented September 30, 2011
1:30 p.m. - Fiedler Auditorium

James Michael Duncan

James Michael Duncan, M.D., from the NASA Headquarters Office of International and Interagency Relations, led the NASA team that went to Chile in September 2010 in support of the rescue of 33 trapped miners. For their efforts, Dr. Duncan and his NASA team were awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the 2011 Samuel J. Heyman, Service to America, National Security and International Affairs Medal.

Prior to his current NASA Headquarters assignment, Dr. Duncan was deputy chief medical officer, Space Life Sciences Directorate, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. He began his work with NASA when he joined Wyle Laboratories in 1999 to provide medical coverage to astronauts in training in Star City, Russia. Subsequently, he became a NASA flight surgeon in 2000 and participated in the Space Shuttle Program as deputy crew surgeon for STS-104 and STS-108 before being named lead crew surgeon for Expedition 6 to the International Space Station. He served as manager of medical operations, from 2002 to 2004, and as chief of space medicine from 2004 to 2009.

Dr. Duncan has also received the Johnson Space Center Superior Achievement Award and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.

A native of Wichita, Kan., he received a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from Kansas State University in 1974, going on to complete his Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Duncan is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and is certified in internal medicine and pulmonary disease. He is a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, having been elected by his peers in 2010. He is also an FAA Senior Aviation Medical Examiner, a Fellow in the American College of Chest Physicians and an instrument-rated private pilot.