Even as a student in high school in Pennsylvania, Sam Puma was interested in aerospace; after all, it was the 50s and America was beginning its space program. Sam dreamed of becoming an astronaut and wrote his senior paper on how he would build a rocket-powered spacecraft to fly to the moon. He likes to say that it wasn’t too far off the plan ultimately used by NASA for their lunar travels.
Sam’s father, however, wanted him to
pursue a career in medicine. So, after
graduation from Wilkes University, Sam
enrolled in Philadelphia’s Hahnemann
Medical College. He enjoyed medicine but
longed to combine his medical training with
his love of aeronautics. The opportunity
came when Sam joined the Air Force at the
beginning of his senior year.
Following graduation from Hahnemann,
Sam, now Dr. Puma, served his internship
at Travis Air Force Base in California. After
this internship, his first assignment was to the
NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston,
Texas. There he served as a medical monitor
for space flights and provided medical care for the astronauts and their families. He was
honored to be servingthe astronautsand
Meet
Dr. Sam Puma
especially enjoyed that part of his work that
involved flying with them.
During medical school, Dr. Puma had
received his private pilot’s license. He
developed a deep love of aviation and
became a skilled pilot. His interest in flying
was appreciated by the astronauts, several
of whom recommended him for a special
training program. Through this program, Dr.
Puma became one of the very few physicians
ever chosen by the Air Force to become a jet
fighter pilot.
During his career in the military, Dr. Puma
was not only a flight surgeon and test pilot,
but he also devoted his energy and expertise
to crew systems and life support research
and development. After retiring from the
Air Force with the rank of Colonel, Dr. Puma joined Northrop Aircraft Division as a
senior scientist.
While at Northrop, he was
responsible for concept development and
project management for aero-medical
life support, and advanced fighter crew protection
systems. Dr. Puma’s innovative work on
advanced systems resulted in a number of
patents and scientific publications.
It was through Dr. Puma’s 36 years of
experience as a physician in the aerospace
industry that he developed and perfected
his method for the prevention of motion
sickness. After retiring from Northrop, Dr.
Puma established Puma Applied Science, a
company created to continue his human factors
research and to develop products and
services based on this research.
 Dr. Sam C. PumaPresident of Puma Applied Science
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