Physician & Scientist
For more than a decade, Dr. Roberta Bondar headed an international research team studying the effects on astronauts of spaceflight and re-adaptation back to Earth's gravity.
Holder of the NASA Space Medal and inducted into the International Women's Forum Hall of Fame and Canadian Medical Hall of Fame for her groundbreaking research in space medicine, Roberta Bondar has also received 24 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American universities.
The world's first neurologist in space, Dr. Bondar is globally recognized for her contributions to space medicine. On the space shuttle Discovery mission STS 42 in 1992, Dr. Bondar conducted scientific experiments in the First International Microgravity Laboratory.
For more than a decade at NASA, Dr. Bondar headed an international space medicine research team, continuing to find new connections between astronauts recovering from the microgravity of space and neurological illnesses here on Earth such as stroke and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Bondar's techniques have been used in clinical studies at BI Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and at the University of New Mexico.
Throughout her career, Dr. Bondar has maintained a deep interest in our own natural environment, here on Earth. A respected advisor to industry and government, she was recently selected as Canada's first national 'Biotechnology Champion'. She was also honoured as Canada's Honorary Patron for UNESCOs International Year of Planet Earth which continues through 2010, and has spoken to diverse scientific, corporate and environmental organizations about social responsibility and our environment.
Dr. Bondar was Chair of the Working Group on Environmental Education for the Province of Ontario. All 32 recommendations of the working group were accepted by the Minster of Education and implemented to strengthen environmental education for elementary and secondary school students.
She holds medical licenses in New Mexico, Ontario and is a Canadian Board Certified Neurologist with a subspecialty in Neuro-ophthalmology.
For UNESCO’s International Year of Planet Earth, Dr. Bondar has been Honorary Patron for Canada and has worked with the United Nations Environment Programme to launch various initiatives such as GEO 4 (UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook), tree planting and “Seal the Deal!”, part of the United Nation’s global campaign to achieve a fair, balanced and effective climate agreement for the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference. Dr. Bondar had previously delivered a talk on “Oceans” at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the Rio Summit in 1992.
In 2010, Dr. Bondar chaired a distinguished panel at the 2010 IWF Cornerstone Conference—An Opportunity for Greatness, part of a global dialogue at Eco-World—Ecology, Economy, Enterprise in Guayaquil Ecuador.
Dr. Bondar is a member of the Canadian Earth Sciences Advocacy and Advisory Panel.
She is also an adjunct professor in the Environment and Life Sciences Graduate Program at Trent University in Peterborough Ontario.