Anil Menon is an Indian-born SpaceX medical director who was selected by NASA in December 2021 as one of the astronauts for its future missions. A team of ten astronauts was selected by NASA on 17 December 2021 based on interviews, aptitude tests and medical examinations. Anil also serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Anil Menon was born in 1976 (age 45 years; as in 2021) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1995, he completed his schooling at St. Paul’s Academy and Summit School. In 1999, he completed an AB in Neurobiology at Harvard College. In 2001, Anil earned Rotary Ambassadorial Fellow in Medicine and Malayalam at Jawaharlal Nehru University. In 2003, he went to Stanford University to pursue an MS in Mechanical Engineering. In 2006, he received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in Medicine at Stanford Medical School. In 2009, he earned an Emergency Medicine Residency Certificate in Emergency Medicine at Stanford-Kaiser. In 2010, she received a Wilderness Medicine Fellowship at Stanford University. In 2011, he went to the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston to pursue a master’s degree in public health. In 2012, he earned an Aerospace Medicine Fellowship in Aerospace Physiology and Medicine at the University of Texas.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 11″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
His father’s name is Shunkaran Menon.
Anil Menon with his father
His mother’s name is Lisa Samoilenko.
Anil Menon with his mother
His father-in-law’s name is Chandler Wilhelm.
Anil Menon’s wife Anna with her father
His mother-in-law’s name is Laura Wilhelm.
Anil Menon’s wife Anna with her mother
wife and children
Anil Menon married Anna Wilhelm on October 15, 2016 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 5501 Main St., Houston, TX 77004. Anna Wilhelm is the Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX.
Anil Menon on his wedding day
The couple have two children.
Anil Menon’s children
relationships/affairs
He was in a relationship with Anna Wilhelm before marrying her.
Anil Menon with his girlfriend Anna Wilhelm
livelihood
engineer
Anil Menon joined the Department of Neurology at Harvard University as a researcher in June 1997. He then started working as an engineer at BioVis Technology Center, Mountain View, California in 2001. He then began working as an emergency medicine physician at Area Hospitals in Los Angeles, California from 2009 to 2011. In October 2011, Anil started working as a. Flight surgeon at Weil Integrated Science and Engineering Group in Houston, Texas. Anil joined NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Houston, Texas in 2014 as a Flight Surgeon. In 2018, Anil began working at SpaceX in Greater Los Angeles as Medical Director. Anil helped launch SpaceX’s first manned flight and worked in the research and development of Starship and also participated in private astronautics programs. In 2020, at SpaceX, Anil helped Elon Musk in launching the Demo – 2 mission (future missions involving humans in space), where he helped in its medical organization. On 17 December 2021, Anil Menon was selected by NASA as one of the total ten astronaut candidates for its future missions.
Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force
In 2008, Anil joined the US Air Force as a part-time Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force Reserve, Patrick, AFB.
Event Physician
Anil Menon has been associated with the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an event physician since January 2019.
volunteer work
In 2010, Anil was a volunteer in the Haiti earthquake, and in 2015, served as a physician in the Nepal earthquake and with the International Medical Corps in disaster and humanitarian relief. Anil volunteered at the 2011 Reno Air Show crash, where he flew over 100 flights and transported over 100 patients. When Anil was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, he was part of a polio vaccination campaign in India for a year.
Licenses and Certifications
The licenses and certifications Anil Menon holds include Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, Board Certified in Emergency Medicine, Board Certified in Aerospace Medicine, Aviation Medical Examiner, and State Medical License.
award
- SpaceX “Kick-Ass” Award
- NASA JSC Group Achievement Award for the Expedition 45 Medical Team
- US Air Force Commendation Medal
- 173rd Fighter Wing Category V Airman of the Year
- William K. in Aerospace Medicine. Douglas Award (UTMB)
- Air Force Voluntary Service Medal
- Stanford Emergency Medicine Resident Award for Procedural Excellence
- Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Bedside Teaching Award
- National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Grant
- Stanford Medical Scholars
- Hoopes Award for Outstanding and Original Graduate Thesis
- Summa cum laude with highest honors for graduate thesis
- John Harvard Scholar, Harvard National Scholar
- Harvard College Dean’s Summer Research Award
- Jewett Community Service Award
- Westinghouse Science Talent Search Finalist
- Rensselaer Medal for Mathematics and Science Achievement
- National Science Foundation Young Scholars Grant
Facts/General Knowledge
- He is also known as Anil Samoilenko Menon.
- Anil Menon was born and brought up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was an Indian immigrant, and his mother was a Ukrainian immigrant. Anil’s family is from Ottapalam in India. Anil Menon’s mother lives in the US, and his father and grandmother live in New Delhi, India. Shankaran Nair was the great grandfather of Anil Menon who was a lawyer in the Viceroy’s Council of Kerala when Kerala was a part of Madras.
- Anil was one of the flight commandants in the Operation Enduring Freedom mission in Afghanistan which ran from 2001 to 2014. Once, he was also part of a rescue team for climbers on Mount Everest by the ‘Himalayan Rescue Association’.
- Many articles in the scientific field have been drafted by Anil Menon. He frequently lectures on general aviation in the US as a certified flight instructor.
- In his spare time, Anil Menon likes to explore endurance races like Ironman and Kokoro.
- In 2013, Anil met his wife Anna at his friend’s party, where they danced together to Carly Rae Jepsen’s song ‘Call Me Maybe’. While talking to a media person, Anil took Anna in his arms which left Anna stunned for some time.
Anil Menon and Anna Menon working together on a SpaceX mission
At the time, they were working together at NASA and after three dates, Anil proposed to Anna at the Peveto Art Gallery, to which Anna said yes.
- Anil liked Kerala the most during his visit to India. In an interview given to a media house, Anil said that spending time in India helped him a lot in preparing for his job. He talked about the diverse cultural beauty of India. He said,
Kerala has a special place in my heart. People are very welcoming but they are a little surprised when they hear my accent. They are very warm and welcoming. Spending time in India really helped prepare me for this job, as these are the same skills I will need to apply as an astronaut in the future. India is a diverse multicultural country, every state has a different language, a different culture and a lot of history.
- In December 2021, ten candidates were selected by NASA from a pool of 12000 applicants for its future missions. These ten candidates had to go through several interview rounds, team exercises, medical examinations and aptitude tests. The training of these ten candidates in NASA was announced to start in January 2022, which is a two-year training which has been named Astronaut Candidate Training Program. Training includes military water survival exercises, flying NASA’s T-38 training jet, scuba-qualification for spacewalk training. At a press conference, Anil Menon described his experience after being selected as a NASA astronaut candidate. He said,
I was in California and I got a call. The reason the person started talking about the Dragon capsule was that I was working at SpaceX at the time. I thought it was a business call. And halfway through it turned out to be a joke. The head of the Astronaut Office said, ‘I’m just kidding, do you want to be an astronaut?’ And I said, ‘Sign me up’.”
Left to right – Nicole Ayers, Christopher Williams, Luke Delaney, Jessica Wittner, Anil Menon, Marcos Berrios, Jack Hathaway, Christina Birch, Denise Burnham and Andre Douglas.
- Anil looked excited while talking to a media house after being selected as a NASA candidate in December 2021. He wanted to travel to space in the future and experience the changes taking place in the body there. He said,
Since I love space medicine, I’m excited to learn how the body changes in space. I want to study about it and bring it back to the community, so I can share the knowledge with others.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn