Chief Technology Transition Officer (CTTO)(Assistant Professor)

CSM was established in 2008 to be a world academic leader in space biomedical research and education and to translate the advances in knowledge and technology to benefit life on Earth. TRISH is a virtual institute awarded through a NASA cooperative agreement and is a consortium with Caltech and MIT. TRISH is charged by NASA’s Human Research Program with finding and providing federal grant funding to develop innovative approaches to reduce risks to humans on deep space missions. The consortium engages a wide network of academic institutions, companies, government labs, commercial space providers, and others to lead a national effort in translating cutting-edge emerging terrestrial research into applied space flight human risk mitigation strategies for exploration missions. Further information is available at www.bcm.edu/spacehealth .

The Center for Space Medicine’s (CSM) Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), established via a NASA cooperative agreement, is seeking a collaborative and resolute health technology or engineering expert to serve as TRISH’s Chief Technology Transition Officer (CTTO).

The CTTO will be primarily responsible for the maturation and transitioning to space or space analog operational testing environments products arising out of or supported by TRISH’s 4 major research initiatives: EXPAND, HERMES, SENTINEL, and BEES. For a description of these initiatives see here .

The CTTO will operate as a member of the TRISH executive leadership team, reporting to the TRISH Director, and as a faculty member within CSM, reporting to the CSM Director. He or she will also function as deputy director and represent The Institute as needed.

The Candidate will be eligible for a faculty position at a rank appropriate to his or her experience within a department that is aligned scientifically. The Candidate will also receive a faculty appointment in CSM.

• Work collaboratively within the TRISH leadership team to build an integrated vision for TRISH deliverables, and implement a maturation (and transition to testing in operational testing environments) of TRISH health solutions (consisting of med-devices, software, operational procedures, or biological approaches), developing realistic timelines and impact metrics. Operational testing environments could include spaceflight opportunities with NASA, commercial spaceflight providers, parabolic flight, Australian Antarctic Stations, and other extreme settings.
• Continuously look for ways to integrate solutions across multiple TRISH initiatives.
• Develop strong relationships with major stakeholders (NASA, commercial spaceflight providers, and key other non-space customers, as defined by the TRISH Director) to identify stakeholder needs and assist the TRISH team in prioritizing ongoing and new work to ensure alignment and effective product transitions to these stakeholders, with NASA being the primary customer.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to gain buy-in and create a shared vision for TRISH product implementation in operational environments.
• Support the Chief Scientific Officer’s vision for scientific rigor and priorities.
• Support the Chief Medical Officer in meeting the customers’ medical requirements.
• Foresee potential transition or technology barriers and work together with the TRISH team and funded researchers/developers to creatively work around or eliminate them.
• Identify non-space customers or markets (for example, health tech companies or military) for TRISH products and work with the TRISH Communications team to develop effective collateral that will demonstrate applicability.
• Prioritize and foster relationships with a handful of potential non-space customers to drive toward a mutual development for space and Earth applications and shared funding by other stakeholders.
• Serve as deputy director and stand in for the TRISH Director as needed to represent The Institute to NASA and internally within BCM. Participate in NASA meetings related to the implementation of the Cooperative Agreement Statement of Work.
• Contribute to the academic missions of the candidate’s faculty home department and the Center for Space Medicine. Participate fully as a faculty member in the activities of the Center for Space Medicine, including interfacing with medical students, presenting lectures, and collaborating with other faculty members.
• Collaborate with the consortium partner institutions: MIT and Caltech to fully utilize the potential of the consortium.  

Education Requirements: Doctorate in science, engineering, medicine, or technology is highly desired.

Skills and Experience Requirements:

• Strong technical background, preferably in medicine, space, engineering, or related field.
• Demonstrated effectiveness in understanding stakeholder needs and requirements to inform product development, and ability to leverage insights to drive the vision for product features that will add value and rally stakeholders toward implementation.
• Five or more years of experience and demonstrated success implementing complex technology solutions in operational environments, ideally in non-traditional healthcare or low-resource settings.  
• Experience working as a change agent with federal and granting agencies or large institutions as customers in operations, integration, research, and/or technology development.

Characteristics and Qualities:

• Tech-forward science enthusiast, strategic thinker, a change-agent, who enjoys surveying the latest developments in health, medicine, science, space, technology, and engineering.
• Personable coalition builder who enjoys building highly collaborative teams that solve complex problems, a natural networker with strong interpersonal skills.
• Natural strong communicator, in writing and oral skills. Comfortable marketing highly technical content to a lay audience.
• Comfortable pushing back on leadership when necessary but can execute with enthusiasm once a decision has been made.
• Open-minded and agile, flexible problem-solver; thinks out loud and with others.
• Patient with some bureaucratic processes inherent in working with government or large institutions.
• Highly organized planner who focuses on outcomes and metrics.
• Self-starter, tenacious problem solver, driven to build new things and complete projects.
• Savvy with capitalizing on sociopolitical forces within complex organizations.
• Effective working remotely.

• Domestic and some international travel is required (approximately once monthly).
• Must be able to travel on short notice if requested.
• Remote or hybrid work available (but must attend Houston-based events when requested).
• Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
• Periodic in-person meetings at NASA Johnson Space Center are required.

Baylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal Access Employer.

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