VCU graduate takes part in NASA virtual reality simulation

By Frances Altman
VCU School of Business

Dr. Azhar Rafiq, a 2003 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University's Fast Track Executive MBA program, traded his cap and gown for a NASA flight suit this spring. He and 15 others traveled to Johnson Space Center in Houston, to evaluate the effectiveness of their virtual reality simulation in a zero gravity environment aboard NASA's KC-135 airplane. Rafiq is a co-investigator with the NASA Research Partnership Center at VCU's Department of Surgery.

"We had a great zero g flight and I must admit it was an experience that was unlike anything on earth," said Rafiq. "I would do it again in a flash." Rafiq has filed for a follow-up study and hopes NASA will accept.

The team submitted three proposals to NASA in the spring of 2002, and was granted funding from NASA in October 2002. They studied perception, dexterity and motor capabilities of those selected participants including astronauts and NASA flight surgeons performing surgical skills while in zero gravity. The team also designed simulation environments that evaluated flight crew performance of four basic surgical skills including, grasping, cutting, clip applying and suturing. The results from the simulation will be compiled in a cross analysis, and will show researchers how to better train and mentor astronauts for surgery in zero gravity.

"With more complex and deeper space exploration, there is an urgency to develop accurate surgical treatment protocols for astronauts in the micro gravity environment," said Rafiq.