Prof. Thais Russomano graduated in medicine from the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil (1985) and worked in internal and emergency medicine until 2005. She also has a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Medicine - Wright State University, USA (1991), and a PhD in Space Physiology - King's College London (1998).
She worked for 3 years as a Space Scientist at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Cologne, Germany, before founding the Microgravity Centre, PUCRS, a unique international reference centre in the study of human space physiology and space biomedical engineering, which she coordinated for 18 years.
Thais has been linked to King's College London in different academic positions since her PhD in 1994, having acted at CHAPS, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, as the Deputy Course Director/Senior Lecturer of the Space Physiology & Health MSc degree course (2009-2020). In addition she is a Visiting Professor at Aalto University, Finland (Space & Design), Deggendorf Institute of Technology, European Campus, Germany (contributing to MSc in Medical Informatics), UFCSPA in Porto Alegre, Brazil (Human Physiology in Extreme Environments & Digital Health), and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon (Space Physiology & Aviation Medicine - CEMA). She is also the CoFounder and Director of InnovaSpace Ltd (UK).
Thais has more than 30 years of experience teaching and researching in the fields of Aerospace Medicine, Space Physiology, Aerospace Biomedicine, Aerospace Biomedical Engineering and TeleHealth & Digital Health, including participation in 200+ scientific events with 300+ scientific papers presented. She has also authored books, book chapters and numerous papers in her areas of expertise. Thais is an Elected Academician of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine (IAASM), and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), for which she serves on the Board of Trustees (2019-2023) and IAA Scientific and Publication & Communication Committees (2021-2023). She is also a member of international associations and societies in space, aviation and telehealth (ISfTeH), a Board Member of companies, reviewer for journals and acts as a Review Editor at Frontiers in Space Technologies, and further holds patents related to Space Life Sciences and Aerospace Biomedical Engineering. Thais acted as a voluntary Mentor for Space4Women, an initiative of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA, 2020-2021).