Bio

Joan Vernikos, Ph.D. was Director of Life Sciences at NASA Headquarters from 1993 until September, 2000. She is well known throughout the scientific community, coming to Washington, D.C. from NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) in California. She joined ARC in 1964 after four years at Ohio State University Medical School where she was Assistant Professor of Pharmacology. Trained in London, Dr. Vernikos held academic appointments at Stanford University, Wright State University School of Medicine, and was Visiting Professor at the University of London. After leaving NASA in 2000 she set up her own consulting company, Thirdage LLC.

She has published over 200 scientific papers and reviews, has served on editorial boards of scientific journals, and was Associate Editor of Pharmacological Reviews. She holds 3 patents, including one for the Human Powered Centrifuge (US patent #5616104). Her research focused on understanding the hormone and behavioral mechanisms underlying the response to stress and coping and applying that knowledge to operational conditions in aviation and space. In parallel she led the ground research that developed the framework for understanding how spaceflight and Earth's gravity affect the human body. She was the first to carry out head-down bed-rest studies in women and compare the changes in fluid and electrolyte regulation and their post-bed-rest orthostatic response to that of men. For this work and her leadership in the space sciences, she received numerous awards including the Strughold and Leverett Awards from the Aerospace Medical Association, the Jeffries Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Women in Aerospace, and NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement and two Exceptional Leadership Awards. She is a

• Member of the International Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Research Fellow of the International Strategic Studies Association
• Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association
• Fellow of the World Economic Forum
• Distinguished Speaker on "Leadership" at the Global Strategic Forum, 2005.

An advocate of space tourism, Dr. Vernikos is an ardent believer in the use of space to benefit humanity. She is a consultant to space agencies and the aerospace industry, and a mentor to women professionals.

Of Greek origin, she is married to Geoffrey C. Hazzan and has two children, Eftihia and George Danellis. She plays indifferent tennis. She is also a recognized expert chocolate truffle-maker, having brought to bear her background as a pharmacologist to invent the first all-white chocolate truffle in Europe.