Dafydd R Williams

Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.Sc., IVI.D., C.IVI., FCFP, FRCP, LL.D., D.Sc. was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on May 16, 1954. Inspired in part by seeing the RCAF Golden Hawks acrobatic team in action, he says, "I thought about being an astronaut when I was seven years old and watched the original NASA astronauts on TV.” As a boy he built model aircraft and following high school at Beaconsfield, Quebec, he was a member of McGill University's Sky Diving Club. In 1976 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill.

Dave then earned his M.Sc. and M.D. degrees from McGill and completed a residency in family medicine practice in 1985 through the University of Ottawa. In 1988 he completed a residency in emergency medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dave's professional involvement included serving as a member of the Air Ambulance Utilization Committee with the Ministry of Health in Ontario. He trained ambulance attendants, paramedics, nurses, residents, and physicians in cardiac and trauma resuscitation with the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American College of Surgeons. In 1989-92 he served as an emergency physician and in 1992 became director of the Department of Emergency Services at Sunnybrook Health Centre and assistant professor of surgery and medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Williams is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

While pursuing a career in medicine, Dave met his wife, Cathy Fraser, and encouraged her to pursue her dream of flying. She subsequently became a flying instructor at the Rockcliffe Flying Club in Ottawa and Toronto Airways, and helped Dave earn his private pilot's license in the 1980s. He continued on to earn both commercial and multi-engine licenses and trained in aerobatics.

In 1992 he was selected by the Canadian Space Agency as one of four successful candidates from over 5300 applicants to begin basic training as an astronaut. In 1993 he was appointed manager of the Missions and Space Medicine Group with the Canadian Astronaut Program. His assignments included implementation of space medicine activities in the Space Unit Life Simulation project. In a seven-day simulated space mission, he was the principal investigator to study training and retention of resuscitation skills by non-medical astronauts.

In 1995 Dr. Williams was selected to join a group of international astronaut candidates and reported to NASA, serving in various capacities for the next three years. In April 1998 he was aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as a Mission Specialist in Mission STS-90 as one of the seven-person crew during the l6-day space flight that orbited Earth 256 times. Dave served as medical officer, Extra Vehicular Activity crew member, flight engineer during the ascent phase, and helped perform 26 experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system.

For the next four years he held the position of Director of the Space and Life Science Directorate at the Johnson Space Center, the first non-American to hold a senior management position within NASA, for which he was awarded the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. As a pilot, during that time he completed a multi-engine turboprop rating and continued his interest in aerobatics.

In 2001 Dave became an aquanaut through participation in the joint NASA-NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) NEEMO-1 mission, a seven-day training exercise held in Aquarius, the underwater research laboratory located off the coast of Florida, becoming the first Canadian to have lived and worked in both space and the ocean. Aquanauts are involved with experiments conducted underwater, using spacewalk techniques.

Dave was involved in planning medical objectives in NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Missions Operation) projects and in 2006 he led the NEEMO-9 mission as crew commander of an 18-day project dedicated to assessing technologies for remote medical care.

Dave's second space flight was with Mission STS-118 from August 8-21, 2007, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station, following which he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. During the mission, the crew of the Endeavour added another truss segment, a new gyroscope and external spare parts platform to the Station. Dave participated in three spacewalks and was lead spacewalker in two of them. A new system that enables docked Shuttles to draw electrical power from the Station was activated. During training, Dave was involved in testing for human factors in a range of advanced spacesuits for use in low earth orbit and planetary exploration.

A veteran of two space flights, Dave Williams has logged over 687 hours in space, including nearly 18 hours in three spacewalks. In March 2008 he retired from astronaut service and joined the clinical staff at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario and the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University as a professor of surgery and Director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics. In June 2010 Dr. Williams announced the creation of the first scholarship in the McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, named the Dave Williams Graduate Scholarship.

In July 2011 Dr. Williams became President and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, bringing his experience in medicine, science and management to a new challenge, managing a tertiary care community hospital that employs 2,800 people, including 500 physicians and supported by 900 volunteers. An accomplished public speaker, he has the ability to draw on his varied experiences to weave together the insights he has gained as a physician, pilot, scientist, aquanaut and astronaut. He is the fourth Canadian astronaut to be inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame.

Dave and his wife, Cathy, now a Boeing 767 captain with Air Canada, have two children, Evan and Olivia, and the family lives in Oakville, Ontario. Dave and Cathy enjoy hiking, kayaking, canoeing and skiing. Dave is frequently called upon as a speaker for topics including health care and technology, environmental stewardship, risk management, and motivation. In 2009 he joined the Board of Directors of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, where some of the memorabilia from his space missions have been placed in a space collection. As well, he has logged time in flying a number of the Museum's vintage aircraft. His logbook shows that he has now flown over 30 types of aircraft.

Dave Williams was inducted as a Member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame on June 14, 2012, at a ceremony held in Montreal, Quebec.