Joseph Dituri, PhD
Biomedical Engineer · Researcher · Educator · Explorer
Joseph Dituri, PhD, known as Dr. Deep Sea, is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and a biomedical engineer. He researches hyperbaric medicine and traumatic brain injury at the University of South Florida. He is not a medical doctor.
Twenty eight years in the Navy went into the systems that keep people alive where the air will not: hyperbaric systems, saturation diving, and life support for space exploration. The doctorate that followed is in biomedical engineering, with research in hyperbaric and hypobaric medicine. Along the way he wrote diver training manuals and articles that other divers still learn from.
In 2023 he lived underwater for one hundred days. Project Neptune 100 set a Guinness World Record, but the record was the by-product. The question was what a hundred days of continuous pressure does to a human body, measured on the one subject willing to spend a hundred days finding out.
That work runs through a university now. At the University of South Florida he is Assistant Vice President for Veterans Clinical Research and Associate Professor of Practice, working on repair after traumatic brain injury and running clinical trials. He is a named investigator on the USF hyperbaric oxygen trial for veterans with TBI, registered as NCT06581003. He is also course director for a hyperbaric medicine training program.
Where the credentials come from
Every claim on this page traces to a rank, a degree, a registered trial, or an award with a date on it.
- Military service
- Commander, U.S. Navy (Retired). Twenty eight years. Saturation diving officer, hyperbaric systems, and life support systems for space exploration.
- Doctorate
- PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Research in hyperbaric and hypobaric medicine. Not a medical degree.
- University of South Florida
- Assistant Vice President for Veterans Clinical Research, and Associate Professor of Practice.
- Clinical research
- Named investigator on the USF hyperbaric oxygen trial for veterans and service members with traumatic brain injury. Trial registration NCT06581003.
- Teaching
- Course director for a hyperbaric medicine training program, and author of diver training manuals used in instruction.
- International Board of Undersea Medicine
- Chairman of the Board of Directors.
- Association for Marine Exploration
- Chief Executive Officer.
- Project Neptune 100
- One hundred consecutive days living at ambient pressure underwater, 2023. Guinness World Record, and a study of prolonged hyperbaric exposure.
- Kittinger Medal
- Awarded 2024 for expertise in exploration.
- The Explorers Club
- Fellow.
- Writing
- Books for adults and for children, peer-reviewed papers, and diver training manuals. The books and the research library.
Skydiving, writing, and one unfinished goal
Joe skydives, he writes, and he is working toward flying as a civilian astronaut. The last one is not a metaphor. Saturation diving, life support systems for spaceflight, and a seat on a commercial vehicle are one line of work followed to its end, not three hobbies that happen to belong to the same person. Pressure is pressure, and the body does not much care which direction it comes from.
