First neurologist in space to receive honorary CBU degree
Roberta Bondar will receive an honorary doctorate of letters
Roberta Bondar will receive an honorary doctorate of letters from Cape Breton University and be recognized for her pioneering contribution to space medicine research during a special convocation ceremony at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site next month.
The public ceremony on July 22 will be in conjunction with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Bondar’s flight on the space shuttle Discovery.
“Cape Breton University is honoured to be recognizing the work of Dr. Roberta Bondar, a leader who sets a wonderful example for CBU students in all that she does,” said Dale Keefe, the president and vice-chancellor at CBU, in a press release.
“Throughout her career, Dr. Bondar has amazed her colleagues and inspired Canadians with her passion for the environment, commitment to research and the diversity of her work. We are so pleased to be welcoming her to the CBU family.”
Bondar is considered the first neurologist in space and a cross-discipline thought leader with groundbreaking insights and research on the environment, innovation, discovery and leadership.
Aboard the Discovery mission, she conducted experiments in the shuttle’s first international microgravity laboratory.
For more than a decade at NASA, she headed an international research team that continued to find new connections between astronauts recovering from the microgravity of space and neurological illnesses on Earth.
Her 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.
As part of Canada’s 150th anniversary, Bondar’s photo exhibit, Light in the Land, will be on display at the Bell museum during the CBU convocation and will then be on public display from July 17 to Aug. 31.