International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine

The International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine was founded as an elected honorary society for aerospace medicine professionals in 1955. From the beginning, the Academy's requirements for election to membership have been exceedingly stringent. The Academy's international character is emphasized by the requirement that all documentation be provided for members in both French and English. The Academy is administered through the offices of an elected Secretary-General who handles all routine correspondence, membership and meeting questions, and the academy's finances. Since its inception, the Secretariat has been located in America, Belgium, Canada, France, Portugal, and New Zealand.

Eligibility requirements for Academy membership are of the highest order. At any given time, membership is restricted to not more than 250 members selected from all countries without regard for the candidates' political beliefs or the politics of their countries of origin. Consequently, membership provided a sometimes rare opportunity for an exchange of knowledge across the political boundaries that existed during the Cold War and this is evident in much of the correspondence between the Secretaries-General and the members for eastern European nations.

In 1960, specific requirements for membership stipulated that members must be over 40 years of age; must be a medical graduate; must have made an eminent contribution to aviation medicine; and must be working practitioners with more than 15 years experience in the field of aviation medicine. Only on meeting these and other difficult requirements is a candidate eligible for election by secret ballot of the Academy's Board of Selectors. Members tend to be preeminent as either academic researchers in the field, as the chief medical officers for national airlines, or as the highest ranking medical officer in a national air force.

Meetings are held twice a year with a principal annual meeting held during the annual meeting of the International Congress of Aviation Medicine. Meetings have been held on all continents with locations as disparate as Acapulco and Helsinki. From time-to-time the Academy awards its highest honor, a gold medal, to a laureate for distinguished contributions related to the field of aerospace medicine. Past laureates have included Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett and Dr. Hermann Fischgold. The first such laureate was American physician Dr. Stanley White. The second laureate was Dr. Vladimir Yazdowsky of the U.S.S.R. Laureates do not have to be members of the Academy.