FRONT-LINE HEROES
Astronaut/doctor on a tireless quest to help people around the world
Retired astronaut/doctor sets his sights on public health.
Dr. David Hilmers’ mission has been to help people around the globe, but the retired astronaut/doctor returned to Houston to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“I had been keeping track of the increasing cases in the U.S., and the emails from my section at Baylor indicated that there might be a shortage of physicians at Ben Taub as the number of COVID cases increased,” he said.
Hilmers took the last flight home from Sydney, where he serves as a director and chief medical officer for Hepatitis B Free, an Australian-based humanitarian organization working to eradicate Hepatitis B.
“I was sad to leave, but I think that it was the right decision to come back,” he said. “I felt that I could make the most significant contribution back here in Houston.”
Hilmers has been working both nights and days at Ben Taub since he returned. He serves as an attending on an internal medicine team consisting of three residents. “As yet the numbers of COVID patients has not been higher than we can handle,” he said. “However, the demands on the staff will increase considerably if the numbers continue to rise.”
Pursuing global health is a second career for Hilmers, 70. He spent 12 years with NASA, completing four missions to space — including the first flight of the space shuttle Atlantis, as well as the first flight after the Challenger accident.
Cruising above the atmosphere, among the stars, he saw the whole planet; the lines that carve the world into nations on maps disappeared.
“You see a lot of places that are beautiful from above, but you realize there’s a lot of suffering down below,” Hilmers said. That’s something he wanted to address.
During his last year of work at NASA at age 42, Hilmers balanced training for a complex space mission and studying for his entrance exam for medical school. Before he flew on his final mission, he was accepted at Baylor College of Medicine.
Currently, Hilmers serves as a professor at Baylor in the departments of internal medicine and pediatrics, the Center for Global Initiatives and the Center for Space Medicine. He has served on the faculty for 20 years. His clinical work has included pediatric special needs, emergency medicine, HIV treatment, adolescent medicine and inpatient internal medicine.
He has volunteered on global health initiatives, serving on a number of disaster relief teams — working in Iraq during combat, Southeast Asia after the tsunami in 2005, and heading to Haiti when it was struck with an earthquake. Hilmers went to Liberia to treat patients during the Ebola outbreak. In all, he has provided health care in more than 50 countries.
“I’ve tried to go where I’m needed,” he said. “There always seems to be an area of crisis around the world where I can be of use.”
Hilmers’ recent travels have taken him to Asia to combat the effects of hepatitis, promote public awareness, train health care workers and provide vaccinations and treatment for Hepatitis B Free.
Dr. David Hyman, professor and chief of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said that everyone around Hilmers is touched by his presence.
“When he’s in Houston, he does whatever we need to help at Ben Taub, which is noble in itself,” Hyman said. “Then he’s off to fight Ebola. He’s compassionate, caring and modest.”
He’s also determined to make a difference.
“I’ve found the most effective way to motivate people is to do things by example,” Hilmers said. “There are countless ways to be a servant to others. Just having a calling is what’s important.”
Dr. David Hilmers “I’ve tried to go where I’m needed. There always seems to be an area of crisis around the world where I can be of use.”