Link for Live Seminar

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Abstract: The target of human flight in space is missions beyond low earth orbit and the Lunar Gateway for deep space exploration and Missions to Mars. Several conditions, such as the effect of weightlessness and radiations on the human body, behavioral health decrements, and communication latency have to be considered. Telemedicine and telerobotic applications, robot-assisted surgery with some hints on experimental surgical procedures carried out in previous missions, have to be considered as well. The need for greater crew autonomy in dealing with health issues is related to the increasing severity of medical and surgical interventions that could occur in these missions, and the presence of a highly trained surgeon on board would be recommended. A surgical robot could be a valuable aid but only insofar as it is provided with multiple functions, including the capability to perform certain procedures autonomously. Providing a multi-functional surgical robot is the new frontier. Research in this field shall be paving the way for the development of new structured plans for human health in space, as well as providing new suggestions for clinical applications on Earth.

Bio: Dr. Desire Pantalone MD is a general surgeon with a particular interest in trauma surgery and emergency surgery. She is a staff surgeon in the Unit of Emergency Surgery and part of the Trauma Team of the University Hospital Careggi in Florence. She is also a specialist in General Surgery and  Vascular Surgery. She previously was a Research Associate at the University of Chicago (IL) (Prof M. Michelassi) for Oncological Surgery and for Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery (Dr. J Emond). She is also an instructor for the Advanced Trauma Operative Management (American College of Surgeons Committee for Trauma) and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. She is also a Core Board member responsible for “Studies on traumatic events and surgery” in the ESA-Topical Team on “Tissue Healing in Space: Techniques for promoting and monitoring tissue repair and regeneration” for Life Science Activities.