Dr. Kanas is Professor Emeritus (Psychiatry), University of California, San Francisco. He has been the principal investigator of several NASA-funded research grants studying the interpersonal interactions of astronauts in space. He has written about the psychosocial impact of long duration space missions since 1971. Together with Dietrich Manzey, he is the co-author of the book Space Psychology and Psychiatry (2nd ed., Springer, 2008), which was given the 2004 International Academy of Astronautics Life Science Book Award. In 1999, Dr. Kanas received the Aerospace Medical Association Longacre Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in the Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Aerospace Medicine. In 2008, he received the International Academy of Astronautics Life Science Award.