Valery Polyakov (Russia, 1942). Senior director of the IMBP (the Institute of Biomedical Problems), astronaut and University-trained engineer, hero of the Soviet Union, hero of Russia, doctor in medical science and lecturer. He spent from 29th August 1988 to 27th April 1989 in Space on two long missions involving medical and biological research. From 8th January 1994 to 22nd March 1995 he took part in the longest space mission to date (437 days 18 hours) on board the Mir space station for the 15th, 16th and 17th expeditions. Polyakov is actively involved in international collaboration and is in charge of work being done as part of the international medical services programmes.