Med center links to Japan, Mars is next

In Star Trek, Captain Kirk always had Bones to take care of medical emergencies that developed while exploring deep space. But Dr. Patrick Sewell, chief of the Division of Intervention Oncology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, hopes to rewrite the script for future space travel. Using NASA telecommunication and imaging link-ups, he recently guided surgery on patients located in Japan from a medical center in Jackson, MS. "This remote imaging project helps NASA learn more about the benefits of using such techniques," says NASA's director of the operation William Parsons Jr. This type of intervention surgery could one day help treat astronauts that need emergency care during space travel to a distant planet or long-range operations on the space station. For more information, go to www.umsmed.edu.