Biography

DWIGHT HOLLAND, MALS, MS, MSE, MD, PhD is an award-winning former USAF Officer, Antarctic Field Geophysicist, and envisioned/co-authored the acclaimed NASA book “Breaking the Mishap Chain” — relating to Human Systems Integration and similar problems in the testing of complex aerospace systems. He has been recognized as an Academician in the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine and is a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) and a Fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society, among others. At various times, he has been selected to advise on various NASA or DoD programs, including being 1 of 2 people asked by NASA to review the F-22 fighter physiologic challenges and served as the moderator of a handpicked group of experts by the Secretary of the USAF/Acquisition to make suggestions to re-design the systems engineering processes of the USAF.

He also has over 130 abstracts, proceedings, papers, book chapters and other academic presentations and works to his credit. He is a subject matter expert that utilizes allied medicine and organizational science to improve human systems integration with a systems perspective to reduce injuries and enhance human performance in Aerospace and highly pressured environments. His expertise also involves consideration of leadership and group dynamics to aid in improved decision-making, situation awareness and resilience in a wide variety of systems. Dr. Holland has chaired/co-chaired 60+ academic panels at various professional meetings and has recently (2025) written two book chapters in a work entitled “Building a Space-Faring Civilization”. He has over 2,000 hours in 35+ aircraft and simulators in various capacities– also with an FAA Commercial/Jet Type Rating and was an Instructor and later Staff/Consultant at the USN and USAF Test Pilot Schools for over a decade.

Dr. Holland is a Past-President of the International Association of Military Flight Surgeon Pilots, the Space Medicine Association, the Aerospace Human Factors Association, and the Life Sciences and Biomedical Engineering Branch of AsMA, among multiple other leadership roles. He served on the international Aerospace Medical Association Council for over 15 years and is on two AIAA technical and integration committees and is a sub-Committee Chair for Panels and Conventions.  In addition, he has also served as the Technical Co-Chair/ Leadership Track organizer for the largest International Systems Engineering Conference to date and was the Field Grade Officer of the Year at Edwards AFB, CA (as IMA in the USAF Test Pilot School). Dr. Holland is certified in the use of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and is a Professor of Medical Education at the University of Central Florida School of Medicine.

In his spare time, he teaches skiing professionally occasionally at Vail and Wintergreen Resorts and plays tennis doubles avidly and has been selected for induction into the Roanoke Regional Tennis Hall of Fame.  In the world of chivalry, he has been selected as a Knight Grand Cross in four European Royal Houses, a Hereditary Knight, a Master Brother Knight in a Spanish Noble Company, and has been selected to The Most Venerable Order of St John— all of which help those in need in various countries. An explorer and adventurer, he served on a remote Antarctica Field Team, attaining the South Pole and skied over much of the Western world. For his work in remote parts of Antarctica, he was awarded the Antarctica Service Medal by the National Science Foundation, and numerous other academic, recognition/service awards from multiple professional and academic organizations.