Medical doctor Dr. Shawna Pandya is a newly named astronaut with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), making the first named Canadian female commercial astronaut. She is also Director of IIAS’ Space Medicine Group. Dr. Shawna Pandya is a newly named astronaut with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) and Director of IIAS’ Space Medicine Group. She is also a physician, aquanaut, skydiver, pilot-in-training, and VP Immersive Medicine with Luxsonic Technologies. She is a Fellow of the Explorers’ Club and Associate Fellow of the Aerospace Medicine Association. Dr. Pandya was on the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero-gravity in 2015, and is the veteran of 12 parabolic flights, totalling over 180 parabolas to date. She earned her aquanaut designation on the 2019 NEPTUNE (Nautical Experiments in Physiology, Technology and Underwater Exploration) mission, and completed a second aquanaut mission, NEP2NE. She served as Payload Crew and co-PI of the 2023 IIAS-01 suborbital research flight, as well as a PI and/or co-I for Ax-2, Polaris Dawn and Blue Origin payloads. Her publications include a paper on medical guidelines for commercial suborbital spaceflight, and book chapters on space technologies that have benefitted terrestrial medicine, psychological resilience in long-duration spaceflight, reproduction and sexuality in long-duration spaceflight, and the future of space medicine. Her work is permanently exhibited at the Ontario Science Center alongside Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space. In 2024, she was inducted as a full member of the International Astronautical Federation’s Human Spaceflight Committee, promoted to Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Alberta, and named a Karman Pioneer. Dr. Pandya also received the Explorers' Club's 2022 “50 Explorers Changing the World." Her work has been profiled by Nature Careers and the Royal Canadian Mint.