April Blackwell
General Session – Keynote Address | April has been obsessed with space since kindergarten, but her life's trajectory was significantly altered by a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes at age 11. Instead of giving up on her astronaut dream, she used the diagnosis as fuel to overcome barriers and prove that people with diabetes deserve admittance to all of life's adventures. Now, she is an aerospace engineer with hundreds of hours of experience on board experimental helicopters, expertise in elite military training activities, and thousands of hours supporting human spaceflight missions from the ground. April is guided by the phrase "Ad astra una," which translates as "to the stars, together". She hopes her work creates space for unity between the medical haves and have-nots, and between those in the mainstream and those at the margins.
