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Dr. Donald Holmquest
Astronaut

Donald Lee Holmquest (born April 7, 1939, Dallas) is a former NASA Astronaut. He is currently the CEO of the California Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO).

He attended Roger Q. Mills Elementary School and is a 1957 graduate of W. H. Adamson High School in Dallas; he received a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University in 1962 and doctorates in Medicine and Physiology from Baylor University in 1967 and 1968, respectively. He has completed specialty training in Nuclear Medicine and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine. He also received the law degree from the University of Houston in 1988.

[edit] Organizations

Holmquest is a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, American College of Nuclear Physicians, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. Holmquest held a faculty appointment as Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

After receiving his medical degree and his doctorate in Physiology from Baylor College of Medicine, and completing his internship in internal medicine at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, Holmquest was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. After completing initial academic training and a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona where he earned Air Force Wings, he worked on the Apollo program, and Skylab habitability systems and medical experiments for a period of 1 1/2 years.

He logged 750 hours flying time in jet aircraft prior to resigning from NASA in September 1973.

Holmquest then returned to Baylor to train in nuclear medicine, and then assumed the role of Chief of Nuclear Medicine at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston. He established the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, California, and then took the post of Associate Dean of Medicine at Texas A&M University, where he was instrumental in developing A&M's new College of Medicine.

While pursuing his legal education, Holmquest also maintained a successful private practice in medicine. He received his juris doctorate cum laude from the University of Houston, and after serving as a senior partner at Wood, Lucksinger & Epstein until its dissolution, he established the firm of Holmquest & Associates, dedicated to the health care industry. He now practices medicine and law on a full-time basis.

[edit] Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donald Holmquest

Holmquest's career is chronicled in the book NASA's Scientist-Astronauts by David Shayler and Colin Burgess.

[edit] References

• Holmquest Astronaut Bio - Official NASA biography of Holmquest.

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