Dr. James Logan

Dr. Jim Logan's interest in space began in 1957 when the former Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik. Encouraged by a librarian and an elementary school science teacher, he read everything he could find on space. His tenacity and youthful enthusiasm eventually convinced administrators at his hometown university, University of Tulsa, to grant him permission to take a college course in Astronomy in 1960 at age ten. Upon passing the course, Dr. Logan was invited to attend the First National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space in May 1961 where he met James Webb, NASA's first administrator, and the famous rocket scientist, Dr. Werner von Braun.

17 years later, Dr. Logan was accepted into NASA's first residency program in Aerospace Medicine. Upon completing his residency and his master's degree, he was assigned to Johnson Space Center in Houston in July 1981 where he became a personal physician to the astronauts and their dependents. Promoted to Chief of Flight Medicine in 1982 and Chief of Medical Operations in 1984, Dr. Logan was Mission Control Surgeon, Deputy Crew Surgeon, and Crew Surgeon for the first 25 space shuttle missions.

As Project Manager for the Space Station Medical Facility, Dr. Logan helped develop the initial design for a telemedicine-based in-flight medical delivery system for long duration missions. After a year at NASA Headquarters as the Liaison Officer between Headquarters Life Sciences Division and the Space Station Program Office, Dr. Logan left the space agency to serve as Provost for International Space University, Strasbourg, France.

Upon returning to the USA, Dr. Logan consulted for The RAND Corporation and created Logan & Associates, Inc., an independent telemedicine consulting firm. Dr. Logan is a founding board member of the American Telemedicine Association. He served as a telemedicine resource for a myriad of professional organizations and medical institutions ranging from small rural hospitals to large academic medical centers such as the prestigious New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in midtown Manhattan--the largest and oldest specialty hospital in North America.

His consulting and lecturing activities have taken him to Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Iceland, Russia, Guam, South Korea, Argentina, Costa Rica, and the Peoples Republic of China. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Logan served as the Telemedicine Clinical Director for the DOD's Pacific Regional Program Office at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu.

Dr. Logan returned to the Johnson Space Center in January 1999 as a support contractor for the Manned Test Support Branch. In September 2000, Dr. Logan came full circle back to NASA and is currently the Manager for Medical Informatics and Health Care Systems for the Space Medicine Division.

Dr. Logan is a lifetime recipient of NASA's Distinguished Speaker Award; a Senior Associate for the Space Studies Institute, Princeton University; and is on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Space Resource & Asteroid Studies. He has been featured on the Public Broadcast System (PBS) and CanadaAM and is currently writing a new book, EXPANSION: Risks, Riches, and Renaissance in the Solar System.