Excitement rippled through the room as Hayley Arceneaux took the stage at the summer SDPA conference in San Diego. She wasn’t just any keynote speaker; she was one of us. A Physician Assistant. A PA who’d been to space!
Hayley had us hooked the moment she began describing how it felt to be launched into space. She walked us through her childhood cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment at St. Jude.
Despite the hardships and disappointments, she endured, Hayley’s journey was woven with a common thread of hope and determination.
Coverage: SDPA Annual Summer Dermatology Conference, June 5-9, 2024, in San Diego, California
Haley became a PA for the same reason many of us chose the profession; she wanted to help others. Her greatest dream, however, was to work with pediatric cancer patients at St. Jude.
Many of us got a chance to visit Hayley during her book signing. She seemed as normal and friendly as any other PA you might come across at the conference. In fact, as she walked the Exhibit Hall, she blended in so well that I don’t think most of the PAs knew she was The Astronaut PA.
Hayley eventually got her dream job at St. Jude, but she had no idea she would be offered a chance to be part of the first all-civilian space mission. She and her team endured many months of physical and psychological training to prepare for space travel, but they did it! The photos Hayley shared were out of this world (pun intended).
After Hayley’s talk, she was kind enough to answer questions and photos. I asked her if she’d had formal training in public speaking because her one-hour talk had us all spellbound. She explained that she’d been sharing her story since she was a kid, so it came naturally to her. Another PA commented that out of all the PA opportunities she’d heard of, being an astronaut was by far the coolest.
Byline: Hope Cook, PA-C
Pictured from the left: Hope Cook, PA-C, and Hayley Arceneaux