Dr Shawna Pandya is a Canadian physician, aquanaut and speaker, and a graduate of the scientist-astronaut candidate program with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) and Project PoSSUM. She is VP Immersive Medicine at Luxsonic Technologies, Director of the IIAS/PoSSUM Space Medicine Group and Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Corporation. In this Astro Ben Podcast interview, Ben chats with Shawna about her journey to the stars, the importance of psychological resilience and why she is a fan of doing things “same, same but different”.
They also cover citizen astronaut candidates, favorite astronaut training activities, rural emergency medicine, what research she would do in low Earth orbit, advice for young women entering STEM and her love of taekwondo.
What you will hear in this episode
What a citizen astronaut candidate is
Why Shawna is considering the alternative route to space
Her favorite astronaut training activity
What Shawna learned about herself
Rural emergency medicine
Lessons from Covid in respect to space
Her strategy and game plan to become an astronaut
What research she would do in low Earth orbit
What Orbital Assembly is, and its timeline
Advice for young women entering the STEM world
Shawna’s love of taekwondo
Follow Dr Shawna Pandya
Project PoSSUM | Luxsonic Technologies | Orbital Assembly Corporation | Shawna on X | Shawna on Instagram | Shawna on Facebook | Shawna on LinkedIn
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