Summary
In order to achieve our goals and fulfill our dreams, we often require to get out of our comfort zones and push our limits. In this episode of the Dream Achievers Podcast, Dr. Shawna Pandya shares her story and how she has pushed her limits to achieve a lot in her life at a young age.
Dr. Pandya is a physician-surgeon, 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 (University of Saskatchewan).
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; her work with Project PoSSUM and Final Frontier Design was captured in the CBC Documentary, “We Are Canada.” As part of this involvement, 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. Also in 2016, Dr. Pandya was named to the Project PHEnOM (Physiology, Health and Environmental Observations in Microgravity) Citizen-Scientist Astronaut Corps. As part of Projects Poseidon and PHEnOM, Dr. Pandya’s research will focus on resilience and human performance in extreme environments. 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.
To date, Dr. Pandya has completed over 100 parabolas in microgravity, Sea Survival, Land Survival and Emergency Spacecraft and Emergency Spacesuit Post-Landing Egress training, high altitude noctilucent cloud research in an unpressurized aircraft, as well as courses in spaceflight physiology and celestial navigation. In April 2018, Shawna completed her first Mars analog mission at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
In her spare time, Dr. Pandya is a professional speaker represented by the National Speakers Bureau, presenting on leadership, science, STEM, resilience, entrepreneurship and big ideas. Previous talks include closing keynote speaker at the Agency for the Science, Technology and Research as a guest of the Singapore government alongside Nobel Laureates and Harvard Faculty. She has also spoken at the University of Alberta’s Alumni Weekend Centennial Celebration, Telus Spark, Telus World of Science, Stanford University, TEDxEdmonton, schools, conferences and workshops as far and wide as India, Scotland and South Korea. Dr. Pandya serves as guest lecturer in the University of Alberta’s Technology and the Future of Medicine course and spoke at TEDxUAlberta 2016 on “Success, Failure, Resilience and Pushing the Limits.” Dr. Pandya keynoted in former Canadian Prime Minister Rt Hon. Kim Campbell’s Peter Lougheed Leadership College Leadership Lecture Series in January 2017.
These are just some of Dr. Pandya’s accomplishments. With her hard work and attitude toward pushing her limits, nothing can stop her from accomplishing much more. Some day, we will hopefully see Dr. Pandya in Space and on the Mars!
I highly encourage you to listen to this episode so you get motivated by Shawna’s story and achievements. Success is inevitable as long as you do your best and take consistent action toward achieving what you put your focus on. Don’t stop! Push your limits and success should be yours!
Action List
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- Check out Dr. Shawna Pandya’s website at ShawnaPandya.com.
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