Space Radiation
Element
The Space Radiation Element (SRE) of NASA’s Human Research Program (HRP) seeks to characterize human health outcomes associated with space radiation exposure, helping the space agency build strategies that protect astronaut health and ensure safe human spaceflight.
Meet the SRE Team
Element leaders integrate and coordinate science, as well as handle project costs, schedules, technical work, and resources. Across HRP, all leadership teams work hand-in-hand to ensure that research proposed by the other HRP elements is implemented using the best method possible while maintaining the health of crew members.
Meet the leadership team for HRP’s SRE. To contact them, email the group at jsc-hrp-space-radiation-element at mail.nasa.gov.
SRE Leadership
Jason Weeks, Element Manager
Weeks has more than 20 years of experience at NASA, including as a budget analyst for NASA’s chief financial officer.
Ryan Norman, Deputy Element Manager
Norman first joined NASA at Langley Research Center in 2013 as a research physicist investigating the physics of space radiation to understand how it affects human health.
Janice Zawaski, Element Scientist
Zawaski has 15 years of radiation research experience. During graduate school, she studied the combined effects of radiotherapy and brain tumor presence on surrounding tissue.
Diana Cruz-Topete, Cardiovascular Discipline Lead
Cruz-Topete oversees research analyzing radiation-associated risks with the heart and blood vessels.
Angela Kubik, Omics Specialist
Kubik studies the structure and function of molecules to understand and protect against biological changes induced by spaceflight.
Gregory Nelson, Central Nervous System Discipline Lead
Nelson joined SRE on a part-time basis in his current role in 2014. His laboratory investigates dose rate effects on central nervous system responses to charged particles.
Janapriya “JP” Saha, Cross Risk Integration Projects Lead
Saha's research focuses on ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage signaling, repair, and carcinogenesis, with a strong emphasis on the characterization of space radiation-induced biological effects and charged particle radiotherapy.
Marshleen Yadav, Cancer Discipline Lead
Yadav leads efforts to advance scientific knowledge about predicting and reducing the risk of space radiation-induced cancer.
