Michael A. Schmidt

PhD, MPhil, FAsMA

Dr. Michael A. Schmidt is a Professor of Aerospace Medicine at the UCF College of Medicine and the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Sovaris Aerospace. He is among those advancing the field of precision medicine in human spaceflight and extreme operating environments on Earth. His clinical and research work is rooted in complex molecular analytics (genome, epigenome, proteome, metabolome, microbiome, etc; multiomics), coupled with physiologic and behavioral phenotyping in high performance environments. This includes space missions, such as the NASA Twins Study of One Year in Space, SpaceX Inspiration4, SpaceX Polaris Dawn, SpaceX Axiom (1, 2, and 3), and others. The above works are highlighted in a special issue of Nature in 2024 entitled “Space Omics.”

Beyond spaceflight, Dr. Schmidt has three decades of experience working with elite performers in extreme environments, which includes molecular profiling and countermeasure efforts in humans ranging from wilderness medicine, S.W.A.T., high altitude ascent, military Special Operations Forces, aviators, Olympic athletes, and professional athletes (NFL, NBA, UFC, etc.). Among this work, he led the molecular profiling and countermeasures efforts for the Golden State Warriors when they set the NBA record for wins in a season (73-9) and Corvette Racing when they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Dr. Schmidt is on the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) Mackey-White Health and Safety Committee and is a founding member of the NFLPA Scientific Advisory Board. He is also President of the Human Research Program for Civilian Spaceflight.

Dr. Schmidt currently leads the team developing the Astronaut Digital Twin (ADT) platform for human spaceflight, as well as the Athlete Digital Twin for terrestrial application. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, is a recent President of the Life Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Branch of the Aerospace Medical Association (currently on the Board of Governors) and is on the Space Exploration Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Dr. Schmidt did his Ph.D. research in Molecular Medicine & Biochemistry at NASA Ames Research Center (Human Systems Integration Division), which was centered on the study of heavy allostatic loads such as prolonged hypergravity on NASA’s 20-G human centrifuge. He received a second Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Lancaster University (UK), focused on molecular countermeasures to facilitate neuroplasticity. This included some initial pilot work at the University of Cambridge (Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, Addenbrookes Hospital) examining the molecular mechanisms of TBI. He did additional studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in data and models (artificial neural networks, etc.)

Dr. Schmidt is co-editor of the textbook “Building a Space Faring Civilization” (Elsevier, 2025) and “Fundamentals of Research for Human Spaceflight” (Elsevier, 2026). He is actively involved in the Wounded War Heroes Foundation and is a supporter of the SEAL Legacy Foundation.