Christina Birch

Christina Birch
Born	(1986-11-17) November 17, 1986 (age 35) Mesa, Arizona, U.S.
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cycling career
Team information
Discipline	Track Road Cyclo-cross
Role	Rider
Major wins
National Track Championships Individual pursuit (2016, 2017) Madison (2018) Team pursuit (2017, 2018) Pan American Track Championships Team pursuit (2018)
Status	Active
Space career
NASA Astronaut
Selection	NASA Group 23
Scientific career
Fields	Biological Engineering
Thesis	Identification of malaria parasite-infected red blood cell aptamers by inertial microfluidics SELEX (2015)
Doctoral advisor	Jacquin Niles

Christina Marie Birch (born November 17, 1986) is an American professional racing cyclist and NASA astronaut candidate.

Early life and career[]

Birch grew up in Gilbert, Arizona, and graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics. Birch began cycling with the MIT cycling team while working on her PhD. While at MIT she won the 2014 USA Cycling collegiate cyclocross division two national championship. Birch also represented the JAM Fund cyclocross team from 2011-2015.^[1]

After earning a doctorate in biological engineering from MIT in 2015, Birch moved to Southern California to pursue track cycling full time. She taught bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside, and scientific writing and communication at the California Institute of Technology. On the track, Birch has represented the US at multiple Pan American Championships, World Cups, and World Championships. She competed at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Birch was named to the US track cycling 2020 Olympics long team for the USA in June 2020.^[2]

Astronaut candidacy[]

On December 6, 2021, Birch was formally announced as an NASA astronaut candidate with NASA Astronaut Group 23.^[3]

Major results[]

Personal life[]

She is a partner of a racing cyclist Ashton Lambie.^[5]

References[]