A career without limits: Dr. Olga Emgushov’s journey from Tulane to NASA

On any given day, Dr. Olga Emgushov (R *01) might help determine whether a NASA employee can safely handle rocket fuel, sit in on a discussion of the medical risks of a future mission to Mars or consider questions few physicians ever encounter, such as how astronauts could perform CPR in space without floating away.

As NASA’s interim director of health and medical systems and senior medical officer, Emgushov oversees programs that support the physical and mental well-being of approximately 90,000 people whose work makes space exploration possible. Her responsibilities span occupational medicine, environmental health, employee wellness and fitness and safety standards across NASA’s 14 centers and facilities nationwide.

It is a job requiring equal parts physician, public health expert, policy adviser and problem solver — exactly the kind of career her Tulane School of Medicine combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics, known as med-peds, prepared her to pursue.

“I really feel like Tulane and Charity just prepared me for anything,” Emgushov said. “I have done multiple different things, and I feel like whatever I need to do, I’m able to do it. I had that basis from Tulane.”

During residency, Emgushov rotated through Charity Hospital, Tulane University Hospital and Children’s Hospital, caring for patients of every age in emergency rooms, trauma services and inpatient units.

“We saw everything,” she said.

That breadth became especially valuable after residency. Emgushov met her husband, emergency medicine physician Dr. Brian Boggs (M *97), while rotating in the accident room at Charity Hospital. After Tulane, they needed to complete service obligations (public health service for her, a Navy payback for him) in the same place, and the only location where they could be assigned together was Guam. 

There, Emgushov worked for the Guam Department of Public Health and led a clinic for children with special needs.

“I had kids with congenital heart disease and unusual endocrine conditions, and there were no subspecialists,” she said. “I had to manage all these really critical children.”

She relied on what she had learned at Tulane, along with notes and reference materials she had carried with her from residency. “I was able to take care of patients who were pretty complicated by myself, and I was really grateful for that,” she said.

Professionally, Emgushov repeatedly embraced new opportunities. After Guam, she moved to Florida and worked for Brevard County Health Department directing public health preparedness and epidemiology. She responded to cruise ship outbreaks, tuberculosis exposures, meningitis in schools and other public health emergencies. She later owned a primary care practice, worked as a hospitalist and practiced urgent care.

Every four or five years, she found herself tackling something completely different. That versatility eventually led her to occupational medicine, where she found a specialty that combined clinical medicine, public health and workplace safety while giving her more time with her three children. It also put her on NASA’s radar.

Emgushov joined NASA as a contractor in October 2020, as the agency was navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was all COVID all the time,” she said. “But honestly, it was really fun. I loved it.”

She oversaw COVID-19 planning across all NASA sites, taking into account rapidly changing guidance, assisting with contact tracing and determining when employees could safely return to work. She also helped find ways to vaccinate NASA’s essential workforce when the agency was not among the first federal organizations scheduled to receive vaccines directly. 

Emgushov’s work helped support NASA’s ability to continue critical missions during the pandemic, such as the successful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars in February 2021. 

Her efforts during the crisis led to a permanent position with NASA and eventually to her current leadership role.

Today, Emgushov doesn’t directly oversee astronaut medical care, but she regularly participates in conversations shaping the future of human spaceflight.

“I sit in on these meetings where they talk about the different research that’s going on to get us to Mars and what we’re going to have to do,” Emgushov said. “That is pretty exciting stuff.”

Those conversations tackle questions few physicians ever face. How much radiation exposure is acceptable during a mission to Mars? How could astronauts perform CPR in space without drifting apart? How should crews manage sleep and work schedules aboard the International Space Station, where they experience multiple sunrises and sunsets each Earth day?

Most days, however, Emgushov’s work centers on helping NASA employees safely perform some of the world’s most demanding jobs.

Some employees must be medically cleared to wear fully enclosed protective suits while handling rocket fuel. Others operate cranes, work around hazardous chemicals or enter environments involving radiation or powerful lasers.

“We have all these different standards that I have to help people meet to make sure that we all stay safe when we do amazing things,” she said.

Some days she investigates an unexpected workplace exposure. Other days she evaluates requests for medical waivers. “Space flight is risky, so we have to decide what level of risk we can accept,” she said.

Working at NASA also means collaborating with engineers, helping ensure that ambitious technical designs remain medically feasible.

“Sometimes I have to be like, ‘Hey, you can’t really do that to a human body,’” she said.

Her division also oversees NASA’s Employee Assistance Program, helping employees navigate challenges ranging from grief and caregiving to parenting and organizational change. Even the people preparing humanity for space are balancing family responsibilities at home.

“Anything that bubbles up and might be an issue for NASA employees, we try to help with that.”

Supporting NASA employees also means helping them maintain healthy boundaries. “At NASA, everybody loves their job. They all live for the mission. In terms of sleep-work cycles, I have to get people to not work so much because they will work a lot to try to get their mission done.”

While her career has taken her around the world — and eventually to NASA — the foundation was built during her years at Tulane. Emgushov said the med-peds program gave her close friendships that have lasted for decades. She remains especially grateful to her residency director, Dr. Terry Cummings (M *88, R *93), who supported her as she adjusted to New Orleans and later balanced residency and motherhood.

During Emgushov’s fourth year, when she served as a med-peds co-chief and had her first child, a son, Cummings encouraged her to bring the baby along when residents took visiting medical students to lunch. Cummings also offered her own office as a private place for Emgushov to pump breast milk.

“I don’t know if I would have not only thrived, but have been able to be a resident and also a wife and mother, if it wasn’t for her,” Emgushov said. “If it wasn’t for Tulane, I wouldn’t have had a family.” 

In a full-circle moment, Emgushov and Boggs recently returned to Tulane School of Medicine to watch the oldest of their three children, son Xander, receive his white coat as a first-year medical student at the institution that launched both of their careers.

Emgushov’s career has never followed a predictable path, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I just love it. I love problem solving, and that’s what it is,” she said. “We have a problem, like people wanting to come on site to work with the Roman Space Telescope and they’re having issues, how do I fix that and make that happen?”