Dr. Roberta Bondar

The world’s first neurologist in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar is globally recognized for her pioneering contributions to space medicine research, fine art photography and environment education. Aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-42 in 1992, she conducted experiments for 18 countries in the first International Microgravity Laboratory, a precursor to the International Space Station.

For over a decade after her spaceflight, she headed an international research team working with NASA on neurological symptoms seen after spaceflight, and their connections to neurological diseases on Earth.

Trained as a member of NASA’s Earth Observation Team, Dr. Bondar expanded her professional photographic expertise as an honors student in Professional Nature Photography. Her fine art photographic works are held in private, corporate and institutional collections in Canada, the U.S. and England. She is the author of four best selling books featuring her writing and photography.

Dr. Bondar continues to use fine art photography to explore and reveal Earth’s natural environment from the surface, seeing the world through the creative lenses of medical doctor, scientist, photographer, astronaut and writer. In her current project Protecting Space for Birds, Dr. Bondar is integrating three views of migratory bird corridors in the Americas and Asia-Europe-Africa—space, surface and aerial— to give us insight into the habitats needed by and to protect endangered and threatened birds. Her most recent book featuring her photography and writing, Space for Birds: Patterns and Parallels of Beauty and Flight, was published in the fall of 2024.

Dr. Bondar’s distinctions are diverse and include: Companion of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal, induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and into the International Women’s Forum’s Hall of Fame, 28 honorary doctorates from Canadian and American Universities, Chancellor of Trent University 2003-2009, six Canadian schools in her name, a Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Honorary Fellow and Honorary Vice-president of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and her own star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Shifting one's perspective, to move beyond our present comfort zone.

Fearful of change, many people will not move outside of their place of comfort, for a new idea or sudden immersion in a novel environment can be disorienting and distressful. One of Dr. Bondar’s tasks on her space mission, was to examine how the human nervous system adapts to the sudden exposure to the low gravity of spaceflight, experienced while floating around the Earth. One can think differently with the benefits that it will generate, such as creativity and better physical and mental health. Dr. Bondar, a neurologist, integrates her perspective gleaned from space with her Earth exploration, through her still and video imagery, to stimulate others to think differently, to embrace any evolving context and a new way forward.

Potentially yours, or what's in it for me?

Confidence in an idea begins with insight and energy, both needed to imagine a future gained through wisdom. The power within an individual to envision a future is nascent, untapped in many individuals, with lives that may feel unfulfilled without adequate support systems. Through five pearls of wisdom, Dr. Bondar shares valuable insights into her ongoing life of exceptional achievement, focusing on her leadership, volunteerism and environmental outreach through the lenses of scientist, neurologist, astronaut, photographer, explorer, educator and writer. She polishes each pearl with humour and imagery, through visual storytelling.

The Great Pivot: to do or not to do.

A life without risk is most uninteresting and most unusual. As risk is individually defined, communicating the story around the risk is what many find is most interesting: context, the idea, the emotion, what is at stake in that moment, and what we can learn from either taking a risk or what the risk might be of walking away from it. It is also a moment of self-discovery. For Dr. Bondar, passion and resilience underly her decisions around how she processes the risks that she faces. From her childhood, the excitement of sharing translates into creative communication, complete with the risks entailed in pivoting from one passion to another when the future suddenly shifts.