Dr. Shawna Pandya
Ep. 6 — A martial arts competition goes awry in Thailand and teaches this polymath a lesson for life / Dr. Shawna Pandya, Physician, Citizen-Scientist Astronaut & Aquanaut, and Martial Artist In this episode, Canadian physician, Dr. Shawna Pandya, describes how she combined her childhood passion for space and medicine into a unique and rewarding career as a citizen-scientist astronaut and aquanaut. Dr. Pandya talks about what it takes to be a polymath and near-superhuman and excel in multiple fields. And she describes the rigor and rewards of becoming a Black Belt in Taekwondo and shares an invaluable lesson from competing in an amateur Thai boxing/martial arts competition in Phuket, Thailand. Transcript Download the PDF Chitra: Hello, and welcome to When It Mattered. I'm your host, Chitra Ragavan. On this episode we will be talking to Dr. Shawna Pandya. She's a Canadian physician, citizen scientist, astronaut and aquanaut, and pilot in training. She's a martial artist with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and she also practices the Thai martial arts, Muay Thai. Dr. Pandya currently serves as the life sciences team lead for the Association of Space Flight Professionals, and she's the life sciences chair for the Canadian Space Society. Dr. Pandya holds a bachelor's degree in neuroscience, a master's degree in space studies, and a medical degree. She's licensed as a general practitioner and is an accomplished public speaker. Dr Pandya, welcome to the podcast. Shawna: Thank you so much for having me. Chitra: I believe you fit the definition of a polymath, one who excels at many things. How old were you when you began to define your goals and ambitions? Shawna: I was always an ambitious kid. When I was four, I wanted to be a superhero, or a Transformer, and save the world, and fight crime. And then I realized that that's not something you could actually go to school to do. And so I set my ambitions a little bit lower, and said I'm going to be a billionaire, and I'll be the world's richest person, and use my wealth to solve all the world's problems. And that was when I was seven. Shawna: And then I realized that you can't exactly go get a degree in billionaire-ologies. So then I set my sights on the next ambition, which was becoming an astronaut and going to space. And that really set the trap for everything that came next, especially in my adult life as in my professional career. And so everything I did as a child, whether it was what I was reading about my homework assignments, it was all about going to space and becoming an astronaut. And that laid the foundation for my professional life. Chitra: You were an avid reader, and you said it caused your mom a little bit of concern. Shawna: Yeah, that's a really funny story. So when I was in the second grade, I loved reading. All I would do would be reading. So at recess, regardless of whether it was the middle of winter, or rain or shine, I would just have a book, and I would just read in a corner to the point where my teacher called my mom about it. And one day my mom was listening to a child psychologist on a radio talk show, and they were talking about problems with raising children. And my mom called into this child psychologist, and she said, "My kid reads too much. What do I do about that?" And that was kind of emblematic of the kind of child I was. Chitra: Was there a moment when you realized your passion for space? Shawna: I think it was always a fixture for me growing up. Some of my fondest memories are camping with my family, going to these beautiful locations, away from city lights. Just seeing the dark night sky and the stars leap out at you. I remember on one camping trip when I was seven, it was the Leonides meteor shower, and all we did was stay up till 2:00 AM watching shooting stars through the sky. And it was just this wonderful moment where you're truly aware of how beautiful, and mysterious,