I have always dreamed about becoming an astronaut. Space absolutely fascinates me, and has done so since being a little child. I was also drawn to medicine from early on, and hoped that I could find a way to conciliate both my passions.

I specialised in general internal medicine and then critical care medicine. During my specialty training I discovered the field of expedition medicine, which seemed like a dream come true. It was at a conference related to this, in 2015, that I heard about the job of research MD for the European Space Agency (ESA) at Concordia station, situated 1670 km from the South Pole. 1 year later I was on my way to spend 14 months in Antarctica! Concordia, due to its remoteness and complete isolation during the 9 months of winter, is an excellent analogue for deep-space missions. It is also called the “White Mars”, and is the only Antarctica station jointly run by 2 polar institutes, from France and Italy. I carried out the investigations for teams from around the world, in the fields of immunology, bone and muscle metabolism, cognitive function, and psychology.

Having a background BSc in biochemistry and training in lab benchwork was invaluable for routine experiments. I did a lot of background reading during my winter-over to understand the fundamentals of the research I was carrying out and its applications. This helped me highlight the value of the projects to my winter-over colleagues; the research subjects, but also to a wider audience. We had Skype conferences with children from many schools every week. I must admit though that they were more interested in asking how cold it was and what we ate!

Finally, I was responsible for the rescue of any personnel injured outside of the station walls, and trained my winter-over crew in basic life support. During my winter-over I carried out a thorough review of the risks and hazards around the station grounds, and helped develop new procedures to improve rescue techniques there.

Following on from my year in Antarctica, I have continued to learn all about space medicine. I completed a Certificate in space studies from the International Space University. Via interviews of my winter-over experience, I collaborated to the development of an app aiming to help expeditioners in isolated and confined extreme (ICE) environments. I am now pursuing a Master’s in Medicine in extreme environments, and hope to set up my own research project at Concordia station.

Research in ICE environments will help ensure our ventures into deep space are successful. It helps complement research on the International Space Station, which is limited by constraints in terms of equipment but also time and number of participants. I have attended many space medicine conferences, as well as the annual International Astronautical Congress, and am brimming with ideas of research to do! Space medicine benefits not only astronauts, but also populations on Earth, and I hope to contribute in a small way.

I am now extremely lucky to have been invited by ESA to once again go to Antarctica, on a joint project with the institute for Biomedical Research (UCA-CONICET), the Argentinian Antarctica Institute (IAA), the Ministry of Defense (CoCoAntar and Salud y Bienestar) and the National University of Quilmes (UNQ) and San Andrés University (UdeSA). This is to help set up similar research projects to the ones I conducted at Concordia, but in other stations. This will help answer important questions about how humans adapt to living in such extreme conditions.

More than ever medicine can lead to exciting and novel paths! We are lucky to be less restricted than ever in terms of career paths. Such choices obviously imply some sacrifices, but I count my lucky stars on a daily basis!

Mid-winter is a week of celebration in all stations in Antarctica. It happens in mid-June, in the middle of the 3-4 months of polar night, a strange hibernation of sorts. By then, we can start the countdown to seeing the sun rise above the horizon again. During our mid- winter week we kept watching the daily temperature recordings, as we knew we were quite close to beating the record for chilliest temperature at Concordia. As it got colder and colder, we decided to do a “crazy” challenge, and somehow managed to convince all 13 of us. We set up a camera just in front of the station, stripped to light clothing, keeping our winter boots and coats until the last moment. Screaming in Haka fashion, we all ran outside, took 3 pictures, and then ran back inside, not quite believing what had just happened. The thermometer had hit - 82.8°C, with a windchill factor of more than - 100°C... I was dumb-struck for a few hours. I honestly thought I would lose some toes, reflecting on how reckless the idea had been whilst I stood in the hot shower for as long as I could. Luckily we did get some pretty impressive photos, with a huge cloud of condensation from our collective breaths around us. And we all kept our toes and fingers!