The University of Texas Medical Branch has created its first Department of Aerospace and Exploration Medicine, formalizing a program that has trained physicians alongside NASA's Johnson Space Center for more than 30 years.

Ronak V. Shah, a UTMB faculty member since 2012, will lead the department as its inaugural chair. The university announced the move Sept. 11.

The new department sits within UTMB's School of Public and Population Health. It replaces what had been the Aerospace Medicine Division, which Shah has directed since February 2022. The elevation gives the program a broader academic structure for research, education and cross-discipline collaboration, Galveston Island News reported.

The program has direct ties to the Clear Lake area. UTMB's aerospace medicine residency launched in 1993 as a partnership with JSC. Its residents rotate through Johnson Space Center, NASA Headquarters, commercial space companies, the Federal Aviation Administration and military aerospace medicine sites, according to UTMB's program page.

Shah spent five years inside NASA's Space Medicine Operations Division, serving as medical director of clinical services from 2017 to 2022, before returning to lead UTMB's program. He is board-certified in aerospace medicine and internal medicine, a graduate of the UTMB residency, and a past president of the Society of NASA Flight Surgeons, according to Diya TV.

"Creating the Department of Aerospace and Exploration Medicine gives us an opportunity to build on decades of expertise at UTMB as we prepare for the future," Shah said in the Sept. 11 announcement.

The program has already been expanding. In 2026, UTMB opened its Master of Science in Aerospace Medicine to nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and other doctoral-level specialists beyond physician residents. Five physicians in the 2026 graduating class were recognized June 11 at Space Center Houston's Starship Gallery in Webster.

UTMB residents, faculty and alumni earned 11 awards at the 2026 Aerospace Medical Association meeting and won the RAM Bowl, the national quiz competition among aerospace medicine residencies.

The department plans to welcome its first Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Fellow in July 2027. That program links high-pressure diving environments with the low-pressure demands of altitude and spaceflight.