We are incredibly honored to announce that Eileen Marie Collins, a trailblazer in the field of aerospace and the first female Space Shuttle pilot and commander, will be the opening keynote speaker at this year’s 2024 Healthcare Leadership Conference. Eileen’s distinguished career in the United States Air Force and NASA set the stage for her historic accomplishments in space exploration, breaking barriers and setting high standards for both men and women in the aerospace field.
Eileen Marie Collins is a retired NASA astronaut and United States Air Force (USAF) colonel. A former flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle mission. A graduate of Corning Community College, where she earned an associate degree in mathematics in 1976, and Syracuse University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and economics in 1978, Collins was commissioned as an officer in the USAF through Syracuse’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program.
She was one of four women chosen for Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. After earning her pilot wings, she stayed on at Vance for three years as a T-38 Talon instructor pilot before transitioning to the C-141 Starlifter at Travis Air Force Base, California. During the American invasion of Grenada in October 1983, her aircraft flew troops of the 82nd Airborne Division from Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina to Grenada, and took thirty-six medical students back.
From 1986 to 1989, she was an assistant professor in mathematics and a T-41 instructor pilot at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. She earned a Master of Science degree in operations research from Stanford University in 1986, and a Master of Arts degree in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. That year, she became the second woman pilot to attend the USAF Test Pilot School, graduating with class 89B. In 1990, Collins was selected to be a pilot astronaut with NASA Astronaut Group 13. She flew the Space Shuttle as the pilot of the 1995 STS-63 mission, which involved a space rendezvous between Space Shuttle Discovery and the Russian space station Mir. She was also the pilot for STS-84 in 1997. She became the first woman to command a US spacecraft with STS-93, which launched in July 1999 and deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. In 2005 she commanded STS-114, NASA’s “return to flight” mission after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, to test safety improvements and resupply the International Space Station (ISS). During this mission she became the first astronaut to fly the Space Shuttle orbiter through a complete 360-degree pitch maneuver so astronauts aboard the ISS could take photographs of its belly to ensure there was no threat from debris-related damage during re-entry. She retired from the USAF in Janu ary 2005 with the rank of colonel, and from NASA in May 2006.
Aside from her space missions, Eileen has been a consistent advocate for STEM education and encourages young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Her story is one of determination, courage, and breaking the glass ceiling in a heavily male-dominated field.
Join us to hear Eileen Marie Collins share her extraordinary experiences in space, insights into leadership under the most extreme conditions, and her vision for the future of space exploration and women’s role in it. Her keynote is sure to inspire and motivate all attendees, showcasing the possibilities that await when we push beyond the boundaries of what we believe is possible.