David E. Longnecker
Chair, Committee on Aerospace Medicine and the
Medicine of Extreme Environments
Institute of Medicine

David E. Longnecker, M.D. is a Director at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the organization of U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals, and the Robert D. Dripps Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania.  At the AAMC, he is leading the development of a national organization for Chief Medical Officers, the physicians who are responsible for coordinating clinical care, clinical service and patient safety in academic medical centers.

Dr. Longnecker received his undergraduate and medical education at Indiana University.  He has spent his professional career as a physician-scientist, physician-educator and physician-administrator, first at the University of Missouri, subsequently at the University of Virginia and recently at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, Vice Dean for Professional Services and Senior Vice President-Corporate Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.  Dr. Longnecker is the author of numerous scientific articles and chapters and the editor of six medical textbooks.  Currently he is editing his seventh text, a two-volume, 2500 page textbook of anesthesiology that will be published in 2006. 

Dr. Longnecker has served as President of the American Board of Anesthesiology, President of the National Resident Matching Program, President of the Association of University Anesthesiologists, and founding President (by election) of the W.T.G. Morton Society.  He is a member of the Harvard-Kennedy School of Government Health Care Delivery Design Project that is exploring innovative approaches to quality, cost and productivity in health care.  He is a fellow (by election) of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (UK) and member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences.  At the IOM, Dr. Longnecker is Chair of the Committee on Aerospace Medicine and Medicine for Extreme Environments, which advises NASA on medical risks, medical care and health-related matters associated with space flight.  He is the senior author on two recent reports from the IOM; A Review of NASA's Longitudinal Study of Astronaut Health (2004) and A Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap: A Risk Reduction Stratety for Human Exploration of Space (2005).