X-Message-Number: 1806
Date: 23 Feb 93 15:37:47 EST
From: Mike Darwin <>
Subject: CRYONICS Cryonics Education

From: Mike Darwin
To: All
> Subject: Cryonics Training
Date: 22 February, 1993

     Not the least of the many problems cryonics faces is the absence of 
technically qualified staff to administer cryonic suspension.  Currently, 
all three cryonics organizations are using staff who have received no in-
depth training to function as cryonics perfusionists, or oversee all 
aspects of cryonic treatment.  While there has been and no doubt will 
continue to be some effort to recruit competent individuals from the 
mainstream medical community, the problem still remains that cryonics has 
evolved, both technically and otherwise, to the point where much 
additional training is required to administer the treatment under good 
conditions.   (While the following proposal is probably hopelessly 
premature, there is only one way to find out and that it is to float it 
and see what happens.)

     To this end, I have been considering creating a comprehensive 10 
month program of instruction which would be more or less full-time and 
which would include both didactic and clinical training.  This program 
would feature several instructors including myself, a physician with ICU 
experience, a Board Certified perfusionist and a respiratory therapist.  
The program would consist of approximately 6 months of classroom work and 
4 months of lab including participation in the Cryovita/BPI canine total 
body washout research.

     The school would be open only to students with sufficient prior 
background in a hard science area (chemistry, biochemistry, cell biology, 
biology, etc.).  In addition, a personal interview would be required 
before the candidate could be accepted.  Cost for the course would be in 
the vicinity of $10,000 with a minimum of 3-students required for the 
course to be offered.

     Currently, job prospects for graduates could only be described as 
dismal.  However, it is my belief that this will change very shortly if 
Alcor sustains its growth rate.

     Graduates of this program would be able to not only operate the heart 
lung machine in both cryonics and non-cryonics situations, but would be 
able to perform both femoral and thoracic cannulation for bypass, have a 
good working knowledge of bypass theory and practice, be capable of 
cutting and assembling extracorporeal tubing packs, preparing and 
packaging custom medications for transport, and be knowledgeable about 
every area of the operating room as it applies to cryonics (including 
scrub and prep of staff and patients, gowning, sterile technique, etc.).  
The course would include anatomy and physiology, ischemia and reperfusion 
injury, basic cryobiology, hemostasis and hematology, renal function, 
acid-base balance, and so on.

     The purpose of this posting is to try and determine how many 
interested persons there are in such a course and further to determine if 
any of the three US and two overseas cryonics organizations would be 
interested in paying for the cost of one of their qualified members to 
attend such a course.  Some very primitive housing would likely be 
available and one or two students might be able to earn small amounts of 
money doing animal care and other chores unrelated to the course work.

     Any persons interested or wishing to comment may reply either via 
Cryonet (publicly), direct to my E-mail address, or by calling (909)824-2468.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1806