Program: Health Sciences '02
Charles Mathers, MD, MPH, FAsMA, received his B.A. in Kinesiology from Rice University in 2002. He subsequently worked at NASA Johnson Space Center as a member of the Space & Life Sciences Directorate before enrolling in medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. Dr. Mathers graduated in 2007 with honors and accepted a position with the combined UTMB/NASA Internal Medicine/Aerospace Medicine Residency Program. Notable accomplishments during residency include serving as Chief Medical Resident from 2010-2011, awards for Outstanding Intern and Resident in Internal Medicine, and receiving the 2012 Society of U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeons Julian E. Ward Memorial Award.
Dr. Mathers’ work experience includes serving as Senior Associate Consultant with the Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona, and Assistant Professor/Associate Program Director for the UTMB/NASA Aerospace Medicine Residency Program. During his time at UTMB, Dr. Mathers directed the Aerospace Medicine Clinic where he performed complex aerospace medical evaluations, monitored 36 commercial airline pilots in the HIMS program, and coordinated multi-day evaluations for commercial spaceflight participants undergoing certification for travel to the International Space Station. Dr. Mathers also served as Assistant and Interim Director of the Center for Polar Medical Operations. He deployed to McMurdo and South Pole Stations in Antarctica during the 2014-2015 summer season.
Dr. Mathers currently works for the Federal Aviation Administration in the Aeromedical Standards and Policy Division, as Chief of Aerospace and Operational Medicine Flight (SGPF) for the 147th Medical Group, Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, and as a consultant for Axiom Space, Inc. in Houston, Texas. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), member of the International Academy of Aviation & Space Medicine, and Past-President of the American Society of Aerospace Medicine Specialists, AsMA Corporate Forum, and AsMA Space Medicine Association.