Dr. James Baker Receives Lyster Award from Aerospace Medical Association
 Prescott, Ariz., Aug. 2, 2000 -- Dr. James C. Baker, director of the School of Aviation Sciences at the Prescott, Ariz., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, recently received the 2000 Theodore C. Lyster Award at the 71st annual scientific meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association. The award was given for Dr. Baker's outstanding contributions to aerospace medicine as a rated Navy pilot, flight surgeon, program manager, and test pilot.
The Lyster Award honors the memory of Brig. Gen. Theodore C. Lyster, the first chief surgeon of the aviation section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. It has been given annually since 1947 for outstanding achievement in the general field of aerospace medicine. The award is currently sponsored by Lockheed-Martin Space Operations.
Dr. Baker's medical experience includes board certification in family practice. He is currently board-certified in aviation medicine and has flown as a pilot more than 7,000 hours in fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Among his other honors are the Seltzer Award for Excellence in Mathematics, the U.S. Army Soldier's Medal for Heroism, the Navy "E" for Excellence in Air-to-Air Jet Gunnery, and the U.S. Air Force Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding service in operational test and evaluation.
Before joining Embry-Riddle in January 2000, Dr. Baker was project manager for the contract medical support activities at the NASA Johnson Space Center. In support of the initial phases of the NASA Moscow medical support contract, Dr. Baker traveled to Russia to help establish NASA's relationship with the Moscow International Medical Clinic. He also served as the physician covering diving operations and manned tests at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. He was certified as a Navy hyperbaric medical officer at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center before taking this position.
Following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957, Dr. Baker served six years as a line naval aviator, making three deployments as a carrier pilot before beginning medical school in 1963. His assignments as a Navy flight surgeon included senior medical officer (wing surgeon) for the 3rd Marine Air Wing in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait throughout Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He also served as director of flight test operations and special assistant to the commanding officer for operational liaison at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., until his retirement from the Navy in October 1997.
Dr. Baker holds a bachelor of science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, a medical degree from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, and is a graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates 22,000 students through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 100 teaching sites in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.
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