Neal Zapp

Dr. Neal Zapp holds both the position of Chief Health and Performance Officer (CHPO) in Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) and Agency Manager of the Health and Medical Technical Authority (HMTA) within the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) at NASA headquarters. As the human exploration and operations CHPO, he is responsible for maintaining executive support and facilitating communication around the human system with leadership from NASA’s human spaceflight Mission Directorates. This includes facilitating communication at all levels and providing technical data, assessment, and guidance in risk acceptance in support of NASA’s human space flight design and operations efforts.

As Manager of HMTA, he provides organizational leadership at the agency level spanning across centers and programs. His responsibilities include resource planning, management, staffing coordination and assignments across NASA. He also engages with internal and external stakeholders at all levels, while assessing and reporting on organizational performance and strategies. Prior to this position, he was technical assistant to the Deputy Center Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and held positions as the Deputy Manager of the Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) office in NASA’s Orion program, where among other duties he led the Agency’s efforts in human rating the exploration architecture. Dr. Zapp began his career as lead for radiation protection where he managed teams designing and building flight hardware systems for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, provided 24/7/365 console support, and oversaw radiation protection of crews and space vehicle systems across human spaceflight.

Dr. Zapp has been actively involved in both participating in and chairing independent review boards and assessment teams within and outside the Agency and has supported multiple source evaluation boards for large, broad support contracts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, followed by a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, and ultimately earned a doctorate in particle physics. He has been awarded 3 NASA Agency Honor medals, numerous individual and group Spaceflight Awareness Awards, as well as several agency individual and group awards recognizing his technical expertise and leadership contributions to human spaceflight.