Jeffrey P Sutton

Background and Education

Sutton was born in Manhattan, New York City, raised in Toronto and received his education and residency training at the University of Toronto and Harvard University. He studied mathematics and physics prior to earning his M.D. (1982), M.Sc. (1985) and Ph.D. (1988, theoretical physics) degrees. Sutton is a certified specialist and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Early career

Sutton practiced emergency and family medicine, and conducted research in neuropsychiatry and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in Toronto, Canada, prior to moving in 1988 to Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a Clinical Fellow at Harvard, Sutton expanded his medical expertise in psychiatry and neurology, including child specialization. In parallel, he conducted research within Harvard's Laboratory of Neurophysiology and was a Visiting Scientist in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. In 1991, Sutton joined the Harvard faculty as a clinician-scientist and subsequently became the founding Director of the Neural Systems Group at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The Neural Systems Group integrates functional brain imaging with computational modeling, teaching and patient care of adults and children with a spectrum of complex brain disorders. In 1995, Sutton became an affiliate faculty member in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, focusing on research related to neural networks in health and disease. His laboratory’s advances include the theoretical prediction, and subsequent confirmation by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), of multi-scale embedded cortical networks; novel algorithms for autonomous image segmentation and classification; dynamic systems for state-dependent cognition and motor learning; hierarchical and autonomous system reconfiguration; smart medical sensor-effector integration; and use of simultaneous fMRI and electroencephalography capabilities for human brain mapping during sleep. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (including a Scientist Development Award), Department of Defense and private foundations. The discoveries gave rise to a portfolio of intellectual property and three spin-off companies.

National Space Biomedical Research Institute

In 1999, NSBRI and NASA developed an interest in the work of Sutton and colleagues pertaining to near-infrared brain imaging and other biomedical technologies for human spaceflight and Earth-based applications. Sutton subsequently became an NSBRI principal investigator and was awarded team leadership of the Smart Medical Systems Team. In 2001, the NSBRI Board of Directors, with concurrence from NASA, unanimously appointed Sutton as the first full-time President and Institute Director of NSBRI. During his tenure, Sutton has overseen NSBRI's maturation into a premier U.S. institute with excellence in translational biomedical research, countermeasures, technology development, education and operationally-relevant deliverables to NASA for human space exploration, with applications for health on Earth. For his leadership, Sutton received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2010, and the following year was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NSBRI.

Administration and Leadership

To support space biomedical research excellence, NASA openly competed an NSBRI in 1996. Awarded to an academic consortium headed by Baylor College of Medicine, NSBRI has been led by Sutton through several successful extensions of its cooperative agreement with NASA. He has worked closely with the agency and other stakeholders, including a 30-member NSBRI Board of Directors with distinguished representatives from government, industry, the public and 12 institutions: Baylor College of Medicine; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Harvard Medical School; The Johns Hopkins University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Morehouse School of Medicine; Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Rice University; Texas A&M University; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; University of Pennsylvania Health System; and University of Washington. Annually, NSBRI supports interdisciplinary projects at approximately 70 institutions in more than 25 U.S. states, as well as internationally. Sutton has organized NSBRI's geographically distributed research teams, integrated efforts, engaged outstanding scientists and physicians new to NASA, fostered collaborations and facilitated leveraging of the nation's investment in biomedical research to anticipate and provide solutions to NASA for high-priority risks in its former Bioastronautics Program and current Human Research Program. In 2005, America's first physician-astronaut, Joseph P. Kerwin, M.D., and The Society of NASA Flight Surgeons acknowledged Sutton for his substantial achievements in wedding the needs and challenges of operational space medicine with NSBRI's impressive research teams.

Sutton has nurtured NSBRI's pathfinder role and unique added value for NASA. NSBRI elevates the caliber of NASA space biomedical research, and its agility, outstanding investigators, innovation and lean management structure are consistent with its core values: achievement through excellence; teamwork and collaboration; integrity; leadership; and service. To enable success, Sutton and co-workers have cultivated a productive NSBRI Industry Forum and Space Medicine and Related Technologies Commercialization Assistance Program. In addition, university-based scientists conducting cutting-edge research are able to gain insight into operational needs, feasibility and other considerations through an unprecedented NSBRI User Panel. The User Panel consists of current and former astronauts and flight surgeons, spanning four NASA spaceflight programs (Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and International Space Station) and more than 80 distinct missions, and it shares its corporate knowledge and experience in advising NSBRI management and investigators. Under Sutton's leadership, NSBRI has evolved from a virtual institution to one with core laboratories and advanced technology demonstration capabilities to accelerate product delivery. Education programs have flourished, international collaborations have expanded, and NSBRI and Sutton have been strong advocates for human space exploration and bringing space medicine advances down to Earth to benefit the public.

Science and Technology

With an emphasis on highly meritorious and relevant research and development, Sutton has ensured rigor, collaboration, productivity and a strong return on investment of NSBRI's science and technology program. He has served as the selection official on approximately 40 open research solicitations, each for multiple awards. He has also facilitated research, development, testing, evaluation and operational integration on key projects with NASA and other collaborators, both domestically and internationally. Sutton engaged the NSBRI medical community to assist NASA and industry in using human patient simulation for space medicine applications, resulting in implementation of astronaut post-flight anesthesiology protocols should they be required. He enabled NSBRI in its collaboration with NASA and industry to promote ultrasound as the imaging modality of choice for inflight medical assessment, with NSBRI co-sponsoring the first scientific paper submitted from space. Sutton led the efforts to establish a multi-institutional Center of Acute Radiation Research and the follow-on Center for Space Radiation Research to address the most significant risk to human health and performance beyond low-Earth orbit. He and colleagues also work with NASA and the international community to investigate and better understand a newly recognized ocular syndrome in astronauts that may be associated with changes in intracranial pressure; the condition poses the highest risk to human health in low-Earth orbit.

Recognizing the importance of exploring new frontiers, Sutton spearheaded the effort for American scientists to participate in the international MARS-500 isolation experiment, culminating in the first high-fidelity simulation of a 520-day crewed mission to Mars. The U.S. scientists demonstrated differential vulnerabilities among crew members, with all showing a decrease in waking movement and light exposure as the mission progressed, and the majority experiencing disturbances of sleep quality, vigilance and sleep-wake periodicity and timing. Building on the theme of individual differences and countermeasures, Sutton has positioned NSBRI to be a leader in 21st century omics research and personalized space medicine. NASA utilizes this expertise and resource, and is collaborating with NSBRI in its astronaut Twins Study More generally, NSBRI supports breakthrough research, new biomedical capabilities such as non-invasive, image-guided movement of kidney stones (given the increased risk of stone formation in astronauts), and clinical trials that are potentially transformative for space applications. Sutton is a keen proponent of team building and collaboration to achieve this goal, and to assist in the translation of the benefits to improve healthcare on Earth.

Education and Outreach

For more than 30 years, Sutton has taught and mentored students in diverse fields and is recognized as a distinguished educator. At NSBRI, he developed and implemented innovative and award-winning national and international programs in space and STEM education. These include but are not limited to K-16 programs, a National Graduate Education Program in Space Life Sciences, a National Space Biomedical Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program, a National Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Space Biomedical Research and a Space Medicine Clinical Research Training Program for aerospace medicine residents. The outcomes have been excellent; for example, 80% of graduates from the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program introduced by Sutton in 2004 successfully transition to careers related to human space exploration. To foster ongoing connections and communication among young scientists within space life sciences, Sutton created the NSBRI Society of Fellows. In 2007, NSBRI received a Stellar Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation for its performance as a nationally recognized, top-tier program that is pioneering new models for exemplary teaching, training and public outreach. Sutton credits the accomplishments in NSBRI education and outreach to a diverse, dedicated, inspiring and talented generation of young scientists and a community of seasoned professionals, many of whom are contributing to an Encyclopedia of Bioastronautics edited by Laurence R. Young, Sc.D., and Sutton.

BCM Center for Space Medicine

Building on the success of NSBRI, Sutton proposed the establishment of a Center for Space Medicine (CSM) at Baylor College of Medicine. The proposal was presented to the college's Academic Council in March 2008 and approved by the BCM Board of Trustees in May 2008, thereby creating the first academic entity in space medicine ever codified at the level of a department or academic center at a university or medical school. The mission of CSM is to be a world academic leader in space biomedical research and education with a focus on translating space advances to benefit health on Earth. Sutton was appointed Director of CSM, as well as Professor in CSM and the Department of Medicine at BCM. In 2011, Sutton assumed the Friedkin Chair for Research in Sensory System Integration and Space Medicine, the only endowed professorship of space medicine in the world.

CSM faculty members are thought leaders and respected physicians, scientists and engineers conducting research at the frontier of space, health science and technology. Under Sutton's leadership, CSM is a hub for faculty, fellows, residents and visiting scholars from many basic science and clinical departments at BCM and other institutions. CSM also serves as an academic home to all physician-astronauts throughout the world.

Between 2009 and 2012, Sutton led the development of a Space Medicine Track, the first-ever, four-year elective program in space medicine for undergraduate medical students. M.D. graduates have successfully completed the Space Medicine Track in every year since 2012, and in 2015 and 2016, more than half of the first year medical school class took the introductory elective. Students have also completed Ph.D. degrees with theses focused on space medicine.

Space 4 Biomedicine

Sutton orchestrated a collaboration among NSBRI, NASA, CSM/BCM and Rice University to develop a state-of-the-art Consolidated Research Facility located in the BioScience Research Collaborative in the heart of the Texas Medical Center. Integrating form and function, the facility opened in 2011 and its reconfigurable laboratories are used for advanced technology demonstrations of NSBRI products and for research and development in space biomedical innovation, astro-omics and exploration medicine. Modern education, meeting and administrative areas are also part of the facility, which was recognized in 2013 with an American Institute of Architects Houston Design Award. The location of the facility has historical significance as it overlooks Rice Stadium, where on September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered his memorable We choose to go to the Moon speech. The Consolidated Research Facility was renamed Space 4 Biomedicine in 2015.

Honors and awards

Sutton has received numerous honors and awards for his achievements. In addition to those mentioned above, his accolades include the NSBRI Pioneer Award and a Diploma from the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and the Scientific Achievement Award of the Space Medicine Association is named in his honor.