UVM Larner College of Medicine alum Imelda Muller is one of NASA’s 10 new astronaut candidates, out of a pool of 8,000, the space agency announced Monday.
“With upcoming exploration missions, we are pushing the boundaries of human performance. The lessons that we learn, the knowledge that we gain, all of these things are going to help us excel not just in space but in areas of human health here on Earth. The future of medicine is now, and I’m incredibly honored to be here with this team, Muller said during NASA’s announcement at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Muller, an anesthesiologist, graduated from the medical school in 2017 and then worked as an undersea medical officer following training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute, in Connecticut. She studied in the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and became a naval lieutenant. She did her residency in anesthesia and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
“That experience gave me the opportunity to work with multidisciplinary teams in experimental and saturation diving, and I developed a passion for learning about the way the body adapts in extreme environments,” Muller said at the announcement event. “This led me to pursue medical residency training in anesthesia, where I deepened that understanding of how our body responds when it’s under stress. I am incredibly excited to be here alongside this team and to build on that foundation.”
Before coming to UVM, Muller studied behavioral neuroscience as an undergraduate at Northeastern University.
Now, she and the other nine candidates will go through two years of NASA training to become eligible for flight assignments. The program will include spacewalk simulations and survival training.
Muller is one of two in the astronaut training class with a medical background and, at 34, is one of the youngest on the team.
“The UVM community is thrilled to see Dr. Imelda Muller joining NASA’s newest cadre of astronaut candidates,” UVM President Marlene Tromp said in the university’s press release. She also attended the announcement event at the Johnson Space Center.
UVM is part of the Vermont Space Grant Consortium, a NASA partner program that connects those interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics projects with opportunities to work with the space agency. Many Larner students have participated in a four-week Aerospace Medicine Clerkship at the Johnson Space Center.
