Dr. Shawna Pandya: Project PoSSUM, Canada

Dr. Shawna Pandya

Physician-Surgeon; Citizen-Scientist Astronaut Candidate, Projects PoSSUM & PHEnOM; Course Instructor, Space and Wilderness Medicine, Project PoSSUM

Listen to her podcast interview here! 

Dr. Shawna Pandya is a physician, speaker, martial artist, citizen-scientist astronaut candidate with Projects PoSSUM & PHEnOM, and prime crew aquanaut with Project Poseidon. She holds degrees in in neuroscience (BSc Hons. Neuroscience, University of Alberta), space (MSc Space Studies, International Space University), entrepreneurship (Graduate Studies Program, Singularity University) and medicine (MD, University of Alberta), and is currently completing concurrent fellowships in Wilderness Medicine and Enhanced Surgical Skills.

Most recently, Dr. Pandya was appointed course instructor for Project PoSSUM’s EVA 101: Space and Wilderness Medicine, which ran its first iteration in Colorado in September 2017. Prior to this, in 2015, Dr. Pandya successfully completed Scientist-Astronaut Candidate training with Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) and was part of the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity. As part of Project PoSSUM, she also completed slow onset hypobaric hypoxia training, centrifuge studies, aerobatic flight, and emergency spacecraft egress and sea survival training.

In 2016, Dr. Pandya was named to the prime crew for Project Poseidon, which aims to further ocean and space exploration, while simultaneously setting a world record for “most days spent under the sea” at 100 days. Most recently, Dr. Pandya was named to the Project PHEnOM (Physiology, Health and Environmental Observations in Microgravity) Citizen-Scientist Astronaut Corps. Also in 2016, Dr. Pandya was appointed as the Life Sciences Team Lead for Association of Spaceflight professionals (formerly Astronauts4Hire), and has undertaken to further her team’s experience and skills in developing research, technology and payloads related to space medicine and life sciences.

Dr. Pandya’s research interests center on resilience and performance in extreme environments, as well as reproduction in long-duration spaceflight. In her spare time, Dr. Pandya practices Taekwondo, Muay Thai and kickboxing. She is currently working towards her private pilot’s license, and holds her accelerated free fall solo skydiving and numerous SCUBA diving certifications.  

Follow Shawna on twitter at https://twitter.com/shawnapandya