CV Dr. Cora Thiel

Cora is Vice Director at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, University of Zurich and Director International Relations, Center for Space and Aviation Switzerland and Liechtenstein (CSA), specialized in Cell and Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Immunology and Gravitational Biology. She is elected Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, Member of Board of the Swiss SkyLab Foundation, Member of Board of the German Society for Aerospace Medicine (DGLRM), member of advisory boards for aerospace agencies and companies and recipient of several research awards. She is an active investigator for the ESA and NASA Space Life Sciences research program, with 18 years of experience as scientific co-leader of parabolic flight, suborbital ballistic rocket and International Space Station (ISS) missions. She was ESA Astronaut Candidate (Selection 2008), Mars Analogue Astronaut (Mars Desert Research Station) and is the first female parabolic flight instructor. Cora was the project leader of the UZH-Airbus project „3D Organoids in Space”. Cora’s accumulated mission experience is 17 parabolic flight missions, 7 suborbital missions and 9 orbital missions. Cora has flown more than 900 parabolas and was more than 5 hours in microgravity in total.