Roberta Bondar

Our Honorary Patron Dr. Roberta Bondar

Biography

Diverse in careers from scientist, physician, astronaut, photographer and author to entrepreneur Dr. Roberta Bondar is a much sought-after speaker who embodies the spirit that captures change, life-long learning, transferable skills and adaptability. With innovative ideas about how to navigate in uncharted territory, she offers her abilities as a leader and visionary to corporations and organizations globally. Dr. Bondar demonstrates the adaptive thinking necessary for changing perspectives in our contemporary world and knowledge economy with an emphasis on change and adaptation. She engages her audiences with her informal, light and humorous speaking style, outstanding visuals and wide ranging answers to questions as she seamlessly crosses disciplines. Dr. Roberta Bondar is an example of her own advice, insight and leadership of self. An integrated thinker, entrepreneur and the world’s first neurologist in space, she is globally recognized for her pioneering contribution to space medicine research and for making exciting connections between how our brains adapt in space and how we can adapt to constantly-changing business environments here on Earth. Contributing to her insight is her training and certification as a Basic and Advanced Disaster Life Support Instructor. Aboard the Discovery mission STS-42 in 1992 Dr. Bondar conducted experiments for 14 countries in the space shuttle’s First International Microgravity Laboratory. For more than a decade at NASA and at the University of New Mexico, she headed an international research team studying why astronauts in space become deconditioned to Earth’s gravity and how best for them to re-adapt. This led Dr. Bondar and her team to examine patients with neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease that have signs and symptoms similar to those of astronauts when they first return from space. These techniques have been used in clinical studies at the B. I. Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and at the University of New Mexico. When the United Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth, Dr. Roberta Bondar was named Honorary Patron for Canada. UNESCO is the lead agency for the activities that span 2007-2009 to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences for the achievement of sustainable development. The Ontario Government appointed Dr. Bondar Chair of the Working Committee on Environmental Education in 2007 to strengthen environmental education in the curriculum of elementary and secondary schools. The Committee presented the report and all 32 of their recommendations are being implemented. A true renaissance woman, Dr. Bondar is also an acclaimed photographer of the natural wonders of our planet. Roberta Bondar’s photographic essay books include: Touching the Earth about her astronaut experiences, The Arid Edge of Earth, Passionate Vision ~ Discovering Canada’s National Parks and Canada ~ Landscapes of Dreams, both bestsellers in their third printings. Roberta’s photographs of the deserts in the American Southwest and the Canadian Arctic became a well-received exhibition entitled The Deserts of North America. In April, 2005 Hoopers Gallery in London, England premiered Roberta’s exhibition, Ancient Ruins and Desert Dunes a unique look at the Roman ruins found in the Libyan portion of the Sahara Desert. In 2006 her stunning desert photography was featured at the Diane Farris Gallery in Vancouver and the First Canadian Place Gallery in Toronto. Dr. Bondar followed the desert view with the exhibition Greentime in 2007 to celebrate intricate ecosystems of North America. The Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation commissioned Roberta to write and photograph their 2009 calendar. She chose the theme of the Toronto tree canopy and exhibited her twelve large panoramas of all four seasons at the First Canadian Place Gallery in 2008. Dr. Bondar’s large fine art photographic prints are exhibited by the Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver, The Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, First Canadian Place, Toronto, and Hoopers Gallery, London, UK. Her works can be found in private, corporate and institutional collections in Canada, the USA and England. Named by TIME magazine as one of North America’s best explorers, Dr. Bondar has been recognized with the NASA space Medal, Officer of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and is a Laureate of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and of the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame. She has received 24 honorary degrees from North American universities and is featured on the 2003 Canada Post Roberta Bondar astronaut stamp. In 2009, Concordia University awarded her the Loyola Medal in recognition of her leadership and commitment to the environment and education. Dr. Bondar is in her second term as Chancellor of Trent University in Peterborough, Canada. There are five schools in Canada named after Dr. Bondar in recognition of her pioneering leadership in space, medicine and the environment, with the most recent officially opened in 2009.

Visit Dr. Roberta Bondar's Web Page here.