Judith L Robinson, Ph.D.
NASA Johnson Space Center
Leadership Results Statement
Developmental Program Year 2003-2004

Judith L. Robinson (Judy), a life scientist currently at the NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC), has held a life-long belief that one must always push the envelope, that one must always consider the “big picture” and that “no/not possible” is an unacceptable answer. This perspective can be attributed to her family history. She comes from a background where the fairness and generosity of the United States as a nation, and the kindness and generosity of individuals were offered to her immigrant family who escaped the Holocaust. This afforded her family, and consequently afforded Judy, unlimited opportunities. Not surprisingly, a public service career and the burning desire to always consider the individual and the human aspects of a set of circumstances or activities have become guiding principles for her. These were two of the compelling reasons that caused her to come to NASA Headquarters during the Space Shuttle era. Throughout her career Judy has guided her efforts with excellence, integrity, tenacity and an insistence on fairness. Her mission is that human aspects of the exploration of space be uncompromised; that a concerted effort be made to identify the risks to the crew, to understand these risks and then to mitigate and manage the risks to be within acceptable levels. Judy’s personal values coupled with her mission will guide her continued efforts in support of the nation’s exploration vision and mission.

With each subsequent change in her career, Judy has expanded the application of both her skills and her values. During the four-year period of time at NASA Headquarters, Judy worked as the Assistant to the Director for the agency-wide Occupational Health Program. During that period of time she was also the NASA liaison to the Department of Labor (DOL), interagency Occupational Health councils/committees. After three years at NASA Headquarters, she was asked to join the Space Station Task Force and then asked to relocate to JSC, where she was the permanent Headquarters representative to the effort and also made large contributions to the Space Station Program, through establishing firm requirements for crew-related on-board hardware and systems, for requirements established to protect the health of the crew while in flight and for successfully overseeing their implementation.

As a result of her successful work representing the crew related hardware systems and habitability in the Space Station Program, she was asked to join the Space and Life Sciences Directorate to focus on the life sciences aspects of space flight and to work with emerging programs to imbed the requirements associated with crew health and performance, and with the habitability of spacecraft and space-based habitats. Most recently she was asked to be the Space and Life Sciences’ lead for Exploration efforts and be the point of contact to the Exploration Point of Contact at JSC.

In considering the size and complexity of what must be accomplished to succeed in the multiple facets of Human Space Exploration, it is clear that reaching out to create and enable partnerships and collaborations is a necessary and highly desirable strategy. There are a number of examples of such partnerships and collaborations to which Judy has made significant contributions. 1) National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) - Judy has built a mutual trust and respect with the NSBRI, a 12 member consortium responsible for biomedical research and countermeasure development for NASA Bioastronautics. As a result, she is now responsible for the NASA-NSBRI Steering Committee and has refocused their efforts on the Life Sciences aspects of Human Space Exploration. 2) University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) - As a direct result of her Leadership Development Program rotational assignment, UTMB has established a Center for Space Life Sciences and has named its first director. The UTMB Center for Space Life Sciences has formed a partnership with NASA to be a site for accomplishing biomedical research in ground-based analog facilities that will support the nation’s human space exploration vision. 3) Agency-wide Collaborations - Judy was the JSC lead for coordinating the recent JSC - Ames Research Center (ARC) effort. She and her counterpart from ARC defined and led discussions for potential areas of exploration-era collaborations. The successful results of this effort in the areas of were briefed and discussed at the April 28, 2004 meeting of the JSC and ARC Center Directors. Additional collaborations will continue to be established across the public sector as well as with the private sector. The remarkable talents from all sectors must and will be leveraged to accomplish the Human Exploration Mission.