JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON – (Aug. 26, 2024) – Women’s Equality Day celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees all American women the right to vote. Additionally, it recognizes the contributions and achievements of others in their fight to be equal in other areas.
At Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) San Antonio, women are an essential part of the command, which is one of the leading research and development laboratories for the U.S. Navy under the Department of Defense (DoD).
One such woman is Lt. Anca Selariu, a microbiologist, assigned to NAMRU San Antonio’s Craniofacial Health and Restorative Medicine Directorate.
Selariu, who was born near Brasov, Romania, during the communist regime, recently completed a temporary duty assignment as part of a four-person crew during NASA’s inaugural Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog’s (CHAPEA) mission from June 25, 2023, to July 6, 2024.
The CHAPEA missions, consisting of simulated expeditions to the surface of Mars, aim to collect critical data which will inform future human expeditions to space. The first mission consisted of 378 days in Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D 1,700 square foot printed structure located at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Selariu, who entered the United States as an adult on an A-1 Permanent Resident Visa, brought expertise in vaccines, prion transmission, gene therapy and infectious disease research to the CHAPEA mission.
According to Selariu, who will be promoted to lieutenant commander in September, Space exploration has always served as a symbol of hope and aspiration for all humans from the beginning of recorded history.
“Mars is our planet’s closest sibling within reach and crewed exploration missions are not far ahead,” said Selariu, who earned her Doctor of Biomedical Sciences from Rutgers University in 2012. “Yet, we know very little about what challenges humans and other living entities will be faced with, because no living thing has traveled that far, that we know of.”
According to Selariu, the crew’s performed many of the activities expected to be required during a crewed Mars surface mission which included activities from growing crops, cleaning, housekeeping, maintenance of life support systems, equipment repairs, exercise, space walks, remotely operating robotic equipment, conducting surface drone/rover operations, and responding to unplanned situations, etc. The crew also had personal time to relax or engage in fun team activities.
“Working and living in a completely isolated environment, where you are unable to communicate in real time with anybody except the three other crew members for more than a year is not something that a lot of people experience during their lifetimes,” said Selariu, who also possesses two Bachelors of Science Degrees in Biochemistry and Philology. “It is crucial to collect data in an isolated environment to include exercise, nutrition, behavioral health, workload balance and so forth.”
Selariu, who has been in America’s Navy for five years, was grateful to be part of an incredible team of brilliant, selfless and fun crew, who worked hard and cared about each another.
“NASA has decades of experience in selecting crews based on how well they work together and complement each other, and it was a privilege for me to witness this firsthand,” said Selariu. “We each had different personalities, and together we created a wide knowledge base, and shared incredibly diverse life experiences and values which was a positive for the success of the mission.”
Selariu was the only female Navy service member to be selected and to participate in the inaugural CHAPEA mission.
“The Navy has always been there to support NASA in some capacity,” said Selariu. “To me, the whole purpose of the Department of Defense is to ensure peace and security so that the inhabitants of our country and of our planet are free and able to pursue the stars and achieve the impossible. I am honored to have been afforded the opportunity to be a part of the CHAPEA mission.”
Prior to her assignment at NAMRU San Antonio, Selariu served at Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit 5 (NEPMU-5) and NAMRU Indo Pacific.
“I worked in very diverse environments, including forward deployed preventive medicine, diagnostic testing in remote environments and underway, international relations and defense co-operations,” said Selariu. “I spent almost a year at sea as part of the COVID-19 Response Team on the USNS Mercy and USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. Additionally, I helped establish new projects and strategic partnerships within Southeast Asia and Oceania, focusing on force health protection, medical readiness and rapid threat response.”
Recruited from Fort Collins, Colo., as a cryptologic technician (interpretive), Selariu has studied and worked in biomedical research, development and manufacturing for approximately 20 years which has contributed to discoveries in vaccine development, gene therapy and protein misfolding disease transmission.
She is a person who knows the value of freedom of speech.
“I never took it for granted. When I became a citizen of the United States, I enjoyed every privilege a U.S. citizen is afforded,” said Selariu. “I always wanted to serve this country to show my gratitude and defend the rights of the people to have a voice.”
“The Navy is my family,” she continued. “Military service is intrinsically rewarding because it directly contributes to national and global security, which benefits every member of society everywhere. It is my hope that my accomplishments bring awareness to what Navy Medicine is and the importance of its personnel, and that those accomplishments serve to inspire young citizens and scientists to contribute to the mission of Navy Medicine.”
When thinking about a career in America’s Navy, she expressed.
“I rarely think in terms of career as I live fueled and guided by what I believe in, and I believe in helping humans be extraordinary ambassadors for life on Earth,” said Selariu. “I enjoy being in an organization that is actively geared towards its people. Empowering and cultivating leadership in every service member is how a culture of excellence is created and sustained.”
NAMRU San Antonio’s mission is to conduct gap driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research to improve survival, operational readiness, and safety of DoD personnel engaged in routine and expeditionary operations. It is one of eight subordinate research commands in the global network of laboratories operating under the Naval Medical Research Command in Silver Spring, Md.
Story originally posted on DVIDS:
NAMRU San Antonio recognizes Lt. Anca Selariu on Women’s Equality Day