Stijn Thoolen is a medical doctor and space physiologist from the Netherlands, with a keen interest in understanding how humans deal with extreme environments, both physically and mentally. Besides being a physician and researcher, he was selected to train as a fighter pilot, finished a 250-kilometer ultra-endurance race through the Moroccan Sahara, spent a year overwintering in Antarctica, climbed the slopes of Mt. Everest, survived a 1-month road trip with his grandfather, and currently works at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to investigate the limits of human health and performance during spacewalks in microgravity and on future moon missions.
Through his work, Stijn has collaborated in a variety of multicultural and interdisciplinary groups in the fields of medicine, psychology, neuroscience, and aerospace. He has held previous positions for Màxima Medical Center in the Netherlands, the European Space Agency, and Harvard Medical School. He is a guest lecturer at King’s College London, and has published a variety of peer-reviewed articles on topics of non-invasive surgery, aviation medicine, and space physiology and psychology. He enjoys traveling, exercise, playing music, reading books, and maintains long-distance relationships with his wife and his family.
