Physician

With a passion for emergency medicine, remote care medicine and space medicine Dr. Williams is a Professor of Surgery at McMaster University and part of the team at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. He completed his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Medical Doctor degrees at McGill University graduating with numerous honours including the Wood Gold medal. He holds honourary degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, McGill University, Queen's University and the University of Wales. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Family Physicians of Canada. His current research and academic interests include surgical robotics, space and remote care medicine, physician leadership and quality care initiatives.

Pilot

Spaceflight and aviation have been a lifelong interest. With over 1100 hours in 32 different types of aircraft, Dave Williams holds a Commercial pilot's licence with multi-engine and instrument ratings. He currently enjoys flying vintage warplanes at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton and is a passionate advocate and role model for aspiring pilots.

Astronaut

Dr. Dave joined the Canadian Space Agency in 1992 in the second selection of astronauts in Canada. He trained for 3 years in Canada after which he was assigned to Johnson Space Center to start mission specialist training in 1995. His Canadian training included participation in a 7 day space mission simulation and a collateral duty assignment as the Manager of the Operational Space Medicine program in the astronaut office. Upon completion of his mission specialist training he was assigned to the STS-90 Neurolab mission, a sixteen day spaceflight dedicated to neuroscience research. His mission responsibilities included being one of the two flight engineers during the ascent phase of flight, the crew medical officer, an EVA crewmember for contingency spacewalks and one of the four research crew. He was assigned to his second spaceflight STS-118 in November 2002, a space station construction flight on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Setting a new Canadian record for total number of spacewalks, he led two of his three spacewalks in addition to his role as crew medical officer and mid-deck lead. He has logged over 687 hours in space with 17 hours and 47 minutes performing spacewalks.

Aquanaut

As the first Canadian to have lived and worked in space and under the sea, Dr. Dave has explored the two final frontiers. He participated in the first 7-day NASA undersea NEEMO mission in 2001 and was Commander of the 18-day NEEMO-9 mission dedicated to telehealth research and remote care medicine.

Leadership

From 1998 to 2002 Dr. Williams held senior management roles at NASA resulting in numerous awards and recognitions including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Superior Accomplishment Award and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.