NAME: Dafydd
(Dave) Rhys Williams (M.D.)
Astronaut, Canadian Space Agency
PERSONAL
DATA: Born May 16,
1954, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Dave Williams is married and has two
children. He enjoys flying, scuba diving, hiking, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, downhill and cross-country skiing.
EDUCATION: Education: Attended high school in
Beaconsfield, Quebec. Graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, with
a Bachelor of Science, Major in Biology (1976). Obtained a
Master of Science from the Physiology Department, a Doctorate of Medicine and a
Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, (1983).
Completed a residency in family practice in the Faculty of Medicine,
University of Ottawa, (1985). Obtained a fellowship in emergency
medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, following
completion of a residency in emergency medicine at the University of Toronto
(1988). He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
and the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
AFFILIATIONS:
Member of the College of Physicians of Ontario, the Ontario Medical
Association, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, the Undersea and
Hyperbaric Medicine Society and the Aerospace Medical Association. Past
affiliations include the Society for Neuroscience, the New York Academy of
Science and the Montreal Physiological Society.
SPECIAL
HONORS: Awarded the
Commonwealth Certificate of Thanks (1973) and the Commonwealth Recognition
Award (1975) for his contribution to the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada.
Academic awards include the A.S. Hill Bursary, McGill University (1980); Walter
Hoare Bursary, McGill University (1981); J.W. McConnell Award, McGill
University (1981 to 1983). Faculty Scholar (1982) and
University Scholar (1983), Faculty of Medicine, McGill University. Psychiatry Prize, Wood Gold Medal, and Dean's Honour
List, Physiology Department, McGill University, for postgraduate research
(1983). Second prize (1986, 1987, 1988) for
participation in the University of Toronto Emergency Medicine Research Papers
Program.
NASA Space
Flight Medal (1998); Melbourne W. Boynton Award, American Astronautical
Society (1999); Ramon y Cajal Institute of
Neurobiology, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) Bronze Medal for
contribution to neuroscience during Mission STS-90 (1999); Rotary National
Award for Space Achievement (2000); NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2002);
Patron of the International Life Saving Federation (2002); Spokesperson for the
Life Saving Society Canada and Honorary Ambassador of the SmartRisk
Foundation; NASA JSC Space and Life Sciences Directorate Special Professional
Achievement Award (2003) for the implementation of the Automatic External
Defibrillator Program that has saved several lives at the NASA Johnson Space
Center; Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Saskatchewan (2004).
EXPERIENCE: Dave Williams pursued postgraduate studies
in advanced invertebrate physiology at the Friday Harbour
Laboratories at the University of Washington, Seattle, but his interests
shifted to vertebrate neurophysiology when, for his master's thesis, he became
involved in basic science research on how adrenal steroid hormones modify the
regulation of sleep-wake cycles. While working in the Neurophysiological
Laboratories at the Allan Memorial Institute for Psychiatry, Williams assisted
in clinical studies of slow wave potentials within the central nervous system.
His
clinical research in emergency medicine has included studies evaluating the
initial training and skill retention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
skills, patient survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the early
identification of trauma patients at high risk, and the efficacy of tetanus
immunization in the elderly.
In 1988,
Williams became an emergency physician with the Department of Emergency
Services at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, while also lecturing with the Department
of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He served as a member of the Air
Ambulance Utilization Committee with the Ministry of Health in Ontario, both as
an academic emergency physician and later as a representative of community
emergency physicians. In addition, he has trained basic ambulance attendants,
paramedics, nurses, residents, and practicing physicians in cardiac and trauma
resuscitation with both the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the
American College of Surgeons.
From 1989
to 1990 Williams served as an emergency physician with the Emergency Associates
of Kitchener, Waterloo and as the medical director of the Westmount
Urgent Care Clinic. In 1990, he returned to Sunnybrook as medical director of
the Advanced Cardiac Life Support Program and also as the coordinator of
postgraduate training in emergency medicine. Subsequently, Williams became the
director of the Department of Emergency Services at Sunnybrook Health Science
Centre and assistant professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He is
currently an adjunct professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and
McGill University.
In June
1992 the Canadian Space Agency selected Williams as one of four successful
candidates from a field of 5330 applicants to begin astronaut training. He
completed basic training, and in May 1993, was appointed manager of the
Missions and Space Medicine Group within the Canadian Astronaut Program. His
assignments included supervising the implementation of operational space
medicine activities for the Canadian Astronaut Program Space Unit Life
Simulation (CAPSULS) Project. During this seven-day simulated space mission, which was conducted at the Defence
R&D Canada, Toronto (Formerly DCIEM), Williams was the principal
investigator of a study to evaluate the initial training and retention of
resuscitation skills by non-medical astronauts.
He was also one of the crew members and the crew medical officer.
In January
1995 Williams was selected to join the international class of NASA mission specialist astronaut
candidates. He reported to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in March 1995 for a
year of training and evaluation. Following his successful completion of this
training in May 1996, he was assigned to the Payloads and Habitability Branch
of the NASA Astronaut Office. As a representative of the Office, he
participated in the JSC Institutional Review Board and Science Merit Review
Committee, the Independent Advisory Team for the International Space Station
Crew Health Care System (CHeCs), the JSC Radiation
Constraints Panel and was involved in the development of the Human Research
Facility.
In April
1998 Dave Williams participated in STS-90 as Mission Specialist 3 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. During
the 16-day flight, called Neurolab, the seven-person
crew served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life
science experiments. These experiments, dedicated to the advancement of
neuroscience research, focused on the effects of microgravity on the brain and
the nervous system. Williams also functioned as the crew medical officer, the
flight engineer during the ascent phase, and was trained to perform contingency
spacewalks. Columbia orbited the Earth 256 times, covered over 6.2 million
miles (10 million kilometers) and spent over 381 hours in space.
From July
1998 until September 2002, Dave Williams held the position of Director of the
Space and Life Sciences Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in Houston,
Texas. With this appointment, he became the first non-American to hold a senior
management position within NASA. He concurrently held a six-month position as
the first deputy associated administrator for crew health and safety in the
Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in 2001.
In addition
to these assignments, Dave Williams continued to take part in astronaut
training to maintain and further develop his skills. In October 2001, he became
an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-NOAA (National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration) NEEMO 1 mission, a training exercise held in
Aquarius, the world's
only underwater research laboratory. During this seven-day exercise,
Williams became the first Canadian to have lived and worked in space and in the
ocean.
In 2006,
Dave Williams took the lead
of NEEMO 9 as the crew commander of this mission dedicated to assess new
ways to deliver medical care to a remote location, as would be done in a long
space flight.
Dave Williams
is currently training to participate in his second space flight, Mission
STS-118/13A.1. During the 11-day
mission to add a truss segment and relocate solar arrays on the
International Space Station, Dave Williams will perform at least two
spacewalks, and if there is a mission extension, a third.
Last
Updated: July 2007
advertisement
