SPACE LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH
Daniel has had an interest in space and aviation from a young age, perhaps catalyzed by attending the Apollo 17 launch as a small child and growing up near Washington DC with frequent visits to the Air and Space Museum.
As an undergraduate at Brown University Daniel earned his private pilots license, and was President of the Brown University Flying Club. He was selected to attend the NASA Space Life Science Training Program (SLSTP), held at Kennedy Space Center where he participated in research on countermeasures to muscle deconditioning in zero-gravity.
As a Stanford Medical Student, Daniel spent 6 weeks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) on an Aerospace Medicine / Space Medicine Operations Clerkship. He conducted and published work exploring the impact of liquid cooling garments on orthostatic intolerance following return from space flight.
He also conducted research at NASA-Ames Research Center in the human physiology laboratory of Alan Hargens, where Daniel conceived of and led work exploring the use of lower body negative pressure (LBNP), which along with co-author (and now physician-astronaut) Kjell Lingren was published in the Journal of Aviation and Space Medicine.
DESIGNING HUMAN MISSIONS TO MARS
While a Stanford graduate student, Daniel was the medical lead on the Stanford AeroAstro Dept program which developed detailed plans for the manned missions to Mars, initially with the Soviets. Daniel subsequently joined the International Space University summer science program (held in Toulouse France) where they developed a multi-disciplinary and detailed plan for a multinational International Mars Mission.
FLIGHT MEDICINE: AIR NATIONAL GUARD FLIGHT SURGEON
Daniel while serving as a flight surgeon in the California Air National Guard, 144th Fighter Wing
While a medical resident at Harvard’s Mass General Hospital, Daniel joined the Massachusetts Air National Guard and after completed US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine training, served as a flight surgeon with the 104th Fighter Wing, taking care of and flying with the F-15 Squadron then based at Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod. This included a deployment to Saudi Arabia as part of the No-Fly Zone missions over Iraq. The 104th Fighter Wing was the first scrambled on 9-11, and two of the pilots in Daniel’s Squadron were the first over the World Trade Center.
After returning for fellowships at Stanford, Daniel transferred to the California Air National Guard, flying F-16s with the 144th Fighter Wing, based in Fresno. Deployments included to Nicaragua and Hawaii.
Daniel served for over 12 years in the Air National Guard and has over 100 hours flying in F-15 and F-16s.