WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, known also as USAFSAM, is honoring the 100th birthday of the school Jan. 19 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

USAFSAM is an internationally renowned center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, aerospace medical investigations and aircrew health assessments.

The school promotes readiness and protects force and community health by using a range of tools and expertise including environmental and health surveillance, laboratory and risk analysis, process re-engineering, consultation and technological innovation to maximize operational health capabilities and to solve problems through ingenuity and partnerships. The school now trains approximately 6,000 students each year.

USAFSAM was instituted by Dr. Theodore Lyster in 1918 at Hazelhurst Field, New York, as the Medical Research Laboratory of the Air Service, U.S. Army Signal Corps. In 1922, it was re-designated the School of Aviation Medicine and four years later it moved to Brooks Field, Texas. In 1931, the school relocated to Randolph Field, Texas, where on February 9, 1949, Brig. Gen. Harry G. Armstrong established the Department of Space Medicine.

The school’s mission expanded, resulting in its move back to Brooks Air Force Base in 1959 and its re-designation as the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. In May 2011, USAFSAM relocated to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio as part of the 711th Human Performance Wing.