He is a professor of medicine (cardiovascular disease) at Vanderbilt University[2] and continues to serve as a consultant and reviewer for human spaceflight-related studies.

Gaffney served as a Visiting Senior Scientist with the Life Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters from January 1987 through June 1989.

He was a member of several working groups and implementation teams planning collaborative research with German, French and Soviet government scientists.

[1] Gaffney's 15 years of experience in cardiac research and operation of equipment such as echocardiograms and rebreathing devices led to his being selected as a payload specialist aboard STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS 1), a mission which took place in June 1991.

The SLS-1 mission flew over 3.2 million miles in 146 orbits and its crew completed over 18 experiments in nine days, bringing back more medical data than any previous NASA flight.