Seddon to speak on Dec. 8
Posted November 22, 2011
Dr. Rhea Seddon, a physician and former astronaut, will be on The Webb School campus in Bell Buckle on Dec. 8 to participate in the school’s 2011-2012 Follin Speaker Series. The event begins at 2:10 p.m. in The Webb School Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.
A veteran of three Space Shuttle flights, Seddon spent 19 years with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1978, she was selected as one of the first six women to enter the Astronaut Program. She flew aboard her first Shuttle flight in 1985, deployed two satellites, operated the Remote Manipulator Arm, and performed the first echocardiography in space. In 1991, she was selected to serve as a Mission Specialist on the first Shuttle flight dedicated entirely to the life sciences research, Spacelab Life Sciences 1, and in 1993, she was the Payload Commander in charge of all science activities on Spacelab Life Sciences 2. This brought her total time in space to 30 days.
After leaving NASA, Seddon served as the assistant chief medical officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, and as assistant professor of medical administration and education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine for 11 years. There she led an initiative aimed at improving patient safety, quality of care, and team effectiveness by the use of an aviation-based model of Crew Resource Management. Now with LifeWings Partners, LLC, she teaches this concept to healthcare institutions across the United States. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in physiology, Seddon received her medical degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, where she completed her residency in general surgery.
Seddon, of Murfreesboro, and husband and fellow astronaut, Captain Robert “Hoot” Gibson, have three children. Their daughter, Emilee Gibson, is a junior at Webb; son, Paul Gibson, is a 2001 Webb graduate; and son, Dann Gibson, is a junior at Middle Tennessee State University.
The speaker series is an endowed program at The Webb School, an independent college preparatory boarding/day school for grades 6-12.
