Ariana Nelson, MD

Vice President of Programming

Dr. Ariana M. Nelson is a double board-certified anesthesiologist and interventional pain medicine specialist working currently as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of California, Irvine. After earning her medical degree at the University of Michigan Medical School, she completed residency and chief residency in anesthesiology and fellowship training in pain medicine at Northwestern Hospital. She is enrolled in a master’s in education of the health professional at Johns Hopkins School of Education, with MEHP to be conferred 2025.  Dr. Nelson's research interests focus on aerospace medicine and optimization of health and human performance for space exploration missions, and she has both published and ongoing research studies in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. As a member of the NASA Exploration Medical Capability Element from 2020 to 2025, she worked on the Clinical Science Team with NASA engineers in the development of Earth-independent medical operations, specifically in developing a clinical decision support system that leverages artificial intelligence in the austere environment of spaceflight. She continues in her space medicine work as part of the medical team at Vast, the commercial space station company based nearby in Long Beach CA.  A list of her academic work can be found here.