A deployed U.S. Navy<unk>  performs a shipboard exam in the Persian Gulf in 2004. A<unk>  is a military medical officer practicing in the clinical field of aviation medicine. Although the term<unk>  surgery" is considered improper by purists, it may occasionally be encountered.<unk> s are physicians (MDs or DOs) who serve as the primary care physicians for a variety of military aviation personnel on special duty status — e.g., pilots,<unk>  Officers, navigators/Combat Systems Officers, astronauts, missile combat crews, air traffic controllers, UAV operators and other aircrew members, both officer and enlisted. In the United States Department of Defense, the Army, Navy, and Air Force all train and utilize<unk> s. In addition to serving as primary care for military members on special duty status and their families, the U.S. Department of Defense uses<unk> s for a variety of other tasks. Aviation medicine is essentially a form of occupational medicine and<unk> s are tasked with the responsibility of maintaining the military's strict medical standards, especially the even stricter standards that apply to those on flying, controlling or jump (airborne) status. In the U.S military,<unk> s are trained to fill general public health and occupational and preventive medicine roles, and are only infrequently<unk> s" in an operating theater sense.<unk> s are typically rated aviators on<unk>  status (i.e., they log<unk>  hours in military aircraft as a crewmember), but are not required to be rated or licensed pilots, naval<unk>  officers, or navigators/CSOs. They may be called upon to provide medical consultation as members of an investigation board into a military or NASA aviation or spaceflight mishap. Occasionally, they may serve to provide in-flight care to patients being evacuated via aeromedical evacuation, either fixed wing or rotary wing. The civilian equivalent of the<unk>  is the Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). Some civilian AMEs have training similar to that of military<unk> s, and some are either retired military<unk> s or actively serving<unk> s in a military Reserve Component.
Flight surgeon
Barber surgeon
Surgeon
Prosthetist
Proceduralist
Transplant surgeon
Clinician
Radiographer