Kevin Fong

Kevin Fong (born 21 May 1971)^[1] is Consultant Anaesthetist at UCL Hospitals, and is Anaesthetic Lead for both the Patient Emergency Response Team and Major Incident Planning. He is an Honorary Senior lecturer in physiology at UCL where he organises and runs an undergraduate course Extreme Environment Physiology. He is an expert on space medicine^[2][3] in the UK and is the co-director of the Centre for Aviation Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE Medicine), University College London (UCL). He is best known for his television appearances, particularly as an occasional presenter of the long-running BBC2 science programme, Horizon. He presented the 2012 Channel 4 series Extreme A&E where he visited trauma centres all over the world.^[4] Although of Chinese ancestry, he speaks no Chinese of any dialect.^[5]

Education

Fong holds degrees in astrophysics and medicine from University College London and a Masters degree in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University.

Career

• Consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine
• Anaesthetic Lead for both the Patient Emergency Response Team and Major Incident Planning at UCLH
• Fellow of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts
• Chair of the UK Space Biomedical Advisory Committee
• Co-Founder and Co-Director of CASE Medicine, UCL Medical School
• Honorary Lecturer in Physiology at UCL
• Trained and worked with NASA at Johnson Space Center, Houston and Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral
• Advisor to the British National Space Centre
• Medical officer for diving expedition in Fiji (2003)
• Membership of the Royal College of Physicians
• Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists
• Fellow of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine

He was a NESTA Fellow between 2003 and 2008.^[6] During this time he took part in a diving expedition for Coral Cay and worked regularly with NASA as a visiting researcher with the Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Office at Johnson Space Center and occasionally with the medical group at Kennedy Space Center. It was during one of his visits to NASA that he completed his Masters degree in Astronautics (co-supervised by Professor Bill Paloski, now Director of NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division).^[7]

In 2011 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellowship.^[8][9]

In media

Fong was a guest in Material World (BBC Radio 4), on January 20, 2000, where he argued for British participation in space travel research, particularly focusing on the long-term effects on the human frame. He presented Channel 4's science program Superhumans in 2004,^[10] an episode of Frontiers ^[11] on Radio 4, entitled Engineering Flu, and five episodes of the BBC documentary series Horizon. He also makes regular appearances for Health Check on BBC World Service^[12] and has been interviewed in other programs.

He wrote and presented Space Shuttle: The Final Mission (BBC) in July 2011, an hour-long documentary following the final mission of the Space Shuttle, meeting and interviewing those involved in the mission.

Fong was featured in Esquire magazine's 2004 list "UK's 100 Most Influential Men Under 40".

He is the author of the 2014 book, Extreme Medicine: How Exploration Transformed Medicine in the Twentieth Century (ISBN 1594204705).

See also

• Astronautical hygiene

References

External links

• In space, who is the doctor? - The Guardian (June 29, 2000)
• Space, the final frontier - The Guardian (July 1, 2005)
• Why are there no Brits in space? - by Kevin Fong (January 27, 2005, The Guardian)
• Where doctors dare - NewScientist
• Space medicine in the United Kingdom - Student BMJ
• The next small step - Student BMJ
• Space holds medical secrets - BBC News (December 21, 2002)
• Centre for Aviation Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE Medicine) - University College London
• NESTA - Kevin Fong awardee profile - NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)
• Kevin Fong at the Internet Movie Database