Dr. Shawna Pandya (CA) is a physician, aquanaut, dive medical technician, speaker, martial artist, skydiver, and VP of Immersive Medicine at Luxsonic Technologies. A Scientist-Astronaut Candidate with Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) and pilot-in-training with an extensive background in space and bioastronautics, Shawna has tested commercial spacesuits in microgravity - having completed over 140 parabolas in microgravity to date - and in gravity-off-set testing scenarios with the Canadian Space Agency. Dr. Pandya is the Director of the PoSSUM/IIAS (International Institute of Astronautical Sciences), lead instructor for Project PoSSUM’s EVA 102: Operational Space Medicine course, Life Sciences Team Lead for the Association of Spaceflight Professionals, and University of Alberta clinical lecturer. She has conducted research in space medicine at NASA, ESA, and space analogue environments. Her research interests center on resilience in extreme environments, and reproduction in long-duration spaceflight. In 2019, Dr. Pandya served as crew Health & Safety Officer during the 5-day underwater NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology & Underwater Exploration) aquanautic mission at the Jules Underwater Lodge. NEPTUNE studied changes in psychology, physiology and cognition related to living and working in saturation. Dr. Pandya is a Fellow of the Explorers’ Club.
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