Katie Samoil | Top 40 Under 40 2025

Age: 39

Occupation: Registered Nurse

To think of astronauts and critical patients as similar populations with comparable needs may seem a little out of this world, but Katie Samoil knows the two have a lot in common.

Samoil is a registered nurse in the emergency department at the Foothills Medical Centre. She teaches advanced critical-care nursing at Mount Royal University and facilitates mass-casualty simulations across North America.

She is also an internationally recognized aerospace physiology expert, studying the impacts of space flight on the body and exploring the intersection of clinical care and astronaut physiology. Both include working in high-functioning team environments often under intense pressure. There are also physiological similarities between patients on extensive bedrest and astronauts returning from a mission.

Samoil’s research in aerospace first took flight when she attended the International Space University in France in 2013 in the department of human performance in space. Since then, she has helped design curricula for astronaut training and become an associate fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association — one of the largest, most-representative professional organizations in aerospace medicine and human performance — and one of only two Canadians on the Aerospace Medical Association Scientific Program Committee. Samoil is also working on a PhD at Simon Fraser’s Aerospace Physiology Lab, exploring astronaut physiology. She does all of this while still continuing to practice as a registered nurse.

Samoil’s background in nursing is unique to the aerospace industry and, as she shares her knowledge across departments and associations, she enriches the work being done to improve both fields of care. Samoil says the key to her success is her lifelong commitment to collaboration.

“I first wrote a mission statement when I was 19; it was to be a collaborator and to elevate community through strong collaboration,” she says. “I still stand by that.”

Thank yous
“My parents for their continual support of my endeavours no matter how wild they may have felt they were; my nieces and nephew for the space art for my walls and always asking the best questions; my extended family for being a part of my foundation, showing me resilience, always leaning in and reminding me of where we come from; my friends, for being my chosen family, thank you for walking this life alongside me. Sean, the core of our home, a willing participant in all of my adventures, no matter how wild, designing amazing itineraries, helping strategize to make my ideas come together, and being the greatest confidant, sounding board, and partner I could ask for.”