Dr. Anthony Yuen
Dr. Anthony Yuen is a Specialist Consultant at McKinsey & Company in the Boston office and Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Until recently, he was a practicing physician and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Throughout his 10+ years medical career, he has advocated passionately for the use of space technology to benefit health on Earth, including the use of satellite technology for telemedicine, satellite imagery for disaster response and Earth observation data to inform public and population health. Some of Anthony’s recent healthcare work includes a research project on the use of satellite and ground-based pollution data to predict COVID-19 caseloads using machine learning. He also performed a systematic review with the NASA Exploration Medical Capability Group on the impact of elevated ambient carbon dioxide levels in spacecraft on the stability of medications in space. Anthony served as Co-Director of the Weill Cornel – OweF Tele-Simulation Day, in which tele-simulation was used to train analogue astronauts and their medical ground crews to respond to simulated real-life emergencies during an analogue mission. He is a member of the Working Group on Space and Global Health at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Anthony also served as the Director of the Simulation-based Discharge Program at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, a multidisciplinary project focused on the use of simulation technology to enhance discharge education and preparation for caregivers of children with medical devices. Anthony received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical and Space Engineering and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Queensland.
Anthony has been an active member and leader of the Space Generation Advisory Council for 8 years in addition to his medical practice. He co-founded a project group within SGAC for space and life sciences when he saw that there were very few opportunities and connections available to young professionals in the nascent sector. The project group created a community of practice and a global online platform based on Slack to allow young people around the world to share opportunities, knowledge and experiences on topics of space medicine and life sciences. As of today, the group has connected over 800 young people and has been replicated as a model at SGAC, where a similar platform now connects over 3,000 young people across the world. Anthony was also Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Systemic Review Workshop on Space Medicine, a 1-year longitudinal virtual education workshop held with SGAC SMLS and UK Space Labs that involved 9 space medicine experts and 60 students and young professionals conducting a real-world systematic review of 9 aviation and space medicine topics. He helped coordinate SGAC’s first webinar series of “Health in Space” and promoted the importance of webinars as a tool to share knowledge and experience with members all over the world. This experience in creating webinars greatly helped SGAC with hosting future webinars, including over 150 in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that reached over 10,000 viewers worldwide. Anthony is currently working on an online learning platform hosted by SGAC to help members bring quality space education anywhere.
Outside of working hours, Anthony has served in other leadership roles at SGAC, including as Web Coordinator and Treasurer before becoming Chair. As Web Coordinator, he overhauled the organization’s website and created the necessary infrastructure for the website to support global SGAC activities. As Treasurer, he standardized budget tools and processes to improve financial sustainability. In his current role as Chair, Anthony has championed broadening SGAC activities into 5 main pillars of events, scholarship, project groups, policy & advocacy and education & professional development. He is involved with many professional organizations outside SGAC, including the American Institution of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Aerospace Medical Association and the International Astronautics Federation.
