ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the medical industry with engaged volunteers for field-based assessments and research that advances treatment for wounded or injured veterans through challenging expeditions, announced that its Board of Directors has elected Captain (RET) Dominic Lee Pudwill Gorie, USN/NASA as its President, effective immediately.

CAPT Gorie, who retired in 2010, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (“NASA”), including on four space shuttle missions. Following his graduation as a Naval Aviator in 1981, CAPT Gorie flew the A-7E Corsair II with Attack Squadron 46 on USS AMERICA and the F/A-18 Hornet with Strike Squadron 132 on USS CORAL SEA. Upon completion of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, he served as a Navy Test Pilot assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 87 flying the F/A-18 Hornet from USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT. CAPT Gorie was also assigned to U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs before his selection as an astronaut by NASA.

While with NASA, CAPT Gorie served as pilot on the Space Shuttle DISCOVER to the Russian MIR space station and once aboard ENDEAVOUR on a Space Radar Topography Mission. He then commanded twice on the ENDEAVOUR for missions to the International Space Station. He later was chief of the Astronaut Shuttle Branch.

CAPT Gorie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and a Master of Science degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee. CAPT Gorie is a member of the CWVC Board of Directors, and has led several of the
CWVC Challenges, including mountain climbing and backpacking treks in Alaska and Colorado.

About Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge, Inc.
The mission of the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge is to improve the lives of our wounded or injured veterans by focusing on education, rehabilitation, research and innovations in field-based assessments/treatment of Orthotics & Prosthetics, Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury. CWVC provides “Challenge” expeditions that are physically and psychologically demanding. These rehabilitative high adventure and therapeutic expeditions, led by veterans, provide sufficiently arduous, reasonably achievable, and extremely motivational experiences. While participating in these grueling Challenges, the veterans voluntarily participate in case studies and medical research projects that further medical, physiological, biomedical and pathological sciences associated with their injuries. CWVC is a member of Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, (“MTEC”), a biomedical technology consortium collaborating with multiple government agencies under a 10-year renewable Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).

For more information, visit www.combatwounded.org