(supplied/Red Deer Public Schools)

By rdnewsNOW Staff

29th Hall of Fame Inductee

Lindsay Thurber High School honours NASA scientist alumni

Oct 11, 2021 | 9:00 AM

The Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School Hall of Fame recognizes alumni who have made a difference in their community, while being role models for future graduates.

The 29th annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place at LTCHS on Oct. 6, 2021. This year’s inductee is Jessica Scott, a 1998 graduate of the French Immersion program.

Scott said she was honoured to be inducted into the LTCHS Hall of Fame. “I feel humbled to be included with all the other great LTCHS inductees. It’s clear the school and dedication of the teachers provide a strong foundation for students to go on and pursue goals across a wide variety of areas. I truly appreciate all the support I received growing up in Red Deer from my teachers, coaches, and family. I am very thankful for this special recognition.”

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Alberta in 2003, Jessica completed her MSc (2005) and PhD (2009) at the University of British Columbia studying the effects of prolonged exercise on heart function in athletes and heart transplant recipients.

Sports were an important part of Scott’s educational experiences. In high school she was a member of the LTCHS Cross Country and Track teams and a longtime member of the Catalina Swim Club; in university she was a member of the Rowing and Cross Country Teams and Triathlon Club. Scott was also a coach with the Marlins Swim Club, and was co-race director of the inaugural Woody’s Triathlon. She is still an active athlete competing in trail running and triathlons.

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During graduate school, Scott attended the International Space University Summer Course in Strasbourg, France, where she became interested in the physiological side-effects of spaceflight. After completing a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, she then spent five years as a Senior Scientist in the Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA where she studied how exercise training could help astronauts prevent the damaging side-effects of spaceflight. She joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in 2017 to research how the tools and exercise interventions used to keep astronauts healthy could be applied to help patients with cancer.

Scott’s research has been funded by NASA, the National Space Biomedical Institute, and the National Cancer Institute. She is the recipient of Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada Awards, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Awards, NASA’s Human Research Program Peer Award, NASA’s Innovation Achievement Award for the design and implementation of a novel ultrasound technique to measure muscle mass in microgravity, and NASA’s Group Achievement Award as a member of the One Year Mission Operations Team.

“Jessica’s hard work, dedication and accomplishments are an inspiration to us all,” said Chris Good, Principal at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School. “It’s always exciting to see where the future takes our students after they graduate.”