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Medical professionals from across the globe attended the Ramstein Aerospace Medicine Summit and NATO Science and Technology Organization technical course from March 19 to March 23 on Ramstein Air Base.
Approximately 240 people attended the summit, which included speakers and attendees from 22 NATO and allied nations. This year’s theme focused on advances in aeromedical evacuation, human factors, clinical practices and emerging technology.
The summit is an annual event that includes events such as scientific research presentations; panel discussions with general officers; workshops on acupuncture, meditation and field fracture stabilization; and pulmonology standards meetings.
“We gather for the cooperation and collaboration between academia, military aerospace medicine and the medical community,” said Lt. Col. Frank Wessels, NATO Science and Technology Organization human factors and medicine panel executive.
The summit has been held for approximately 36 years but only recently has blended with the science and technology technical course into a single five-day program.
Wessels said one of the reasons for merging the courses was the idea that technology is advancing in such a way that it can solve problems multiple nations are encountering in one way or another.
“The problems are coming from the operational side of the military,” Wessels said. “The people who are benefitting from the research the most are the people on the frontlines.”
Members, including Wessels, gave lectures regarding their findings during medical research and discussed them with attendees.
“Interoperability is an important part of what we do during the summit,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Geoffrey Ewing, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces in Africa surgeon general aerospace medicine division chief. “Each country has their own aeromedical procedure, so the summit helps us come together to identify problems and try to find solutions.”
The summit has become a hub for breakthroughs in multinational military medical research and allows members to share and build upon existing research.
“No one can win a war by themselves,” Wessels said. “So we gather to learn from each other and our different experiences so we can work better together.”
