A woman from Dartmouth, N.S. now holds the most academic degrees of any woman in history, making her an official world record holder, according to the World Record Academy.
“I have 32 of them,” Dr. Stephanie Attwater said.
But her diplomas and degrees didn’t come easily.
Attwater was involved in a severe car accident 20 years ago, during her first year of university, that resulted in a brain injury. It heightened her risk of being diagnosed with certain types of dementia later in life. In response, she decided to challenge her brain “as a way to exercise it.”
And then her journey began.
“They thought that (20 years ago) as soon as you injured your brain, there was absolutely nothing you can do to come back from that,” she said.
“I was determined to make sure that was not true.”
The first degree Attwater received was a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Biotechnology in May 2004 at the University of Ottawa. Since then, she’s received certifications from several institutions including the University of British Columbia, National University of Medical Sciences, and the London College of Osteopathy Canada.
She said the injuries she sustained from the accident forced her to re-learn how to read, in addition to re-acquiring the know-how of other subjects that she previously excelled in as a child.
“I lost the ability to do math … I really struggled with speaking for a number of years. I still struggle with that. You really notice it when I’m tired,” she said. “You know that thing in your brain that tells you a word is a word when you look at it? That got broke, so, words are just a string of letters. I had to figure out a different way to read.”
Attwater said she perceives her accolades as a “personal triumph” because it strengthens her confidence that she’s recovered from the damaging car accident in her 20s.
Some of the degrees she holds include a master’s in Rehabilitation Science, a bachelor’s in nutrition, and “a lot of psychology.”
Trish McManus, a long-time patient of Attwater’s practice, said she thought “everyone needed to know” about her rehabilitation specialists’ academic achievements. She spent months persuading her to apply for the world record.
“If someone can do all this behind the scenes, still help people in her work as an osteopath … I’m like ‘People need to know this, Stephanie,” McManus said, adding that Attwater’s initial response to the suggestion was that she “didn’t want to bring attention to herself.”
“But what about that little girl that’s out there, that was you? What if there’s a little seven-year-old girl out there somewhere that looks at you and goes ‘But I want to be her someday’. And I said, ‘Is that enough to make you want to put yourself out there?'”
McManus said she was surprised to hear her conversation with Attwater played such an integral role in publicizing her efforts.
Attwater said a key factor that contributed to her certification in a large variety of fields was the amount of overlapping information contained in similar areas of study.
“Most of the time you have to write at least a comprehensive exam to show that you learned the information,” she said. “You can rack up a lot of degrees for pretty cheap with little extra work, especially if you stick with the same school.”
“A lot of my Osteo (therapy) stuff applied to my rehabilitation science masters, there’s a lot of overlap just because I stick with similar fields. The anatomy is anatomy. If you’ve learned anatomy once, there’s not a lot of extra that you need to do with that.”
Attwater now holds PhDs in three different fields of study: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Osteopathic Clinical Rehabilitation, and Natural Medicine.
But she said she isn’t stopping there. She’s determined to outwit an unlikely competitor — Bruce Banner, the fictional Marvel character also known as The Hulk.
“There was an offhand comment in one of the Avengers movies. Bruce Banner said that he had seven PhDs. So, I am determined now to get eight,” she laughed. “I’m currently finishing a doctor of science and clinical nutrition. My next two are going to be in health, psychology and clinical psychology and then pharmacology.”
When trying to recall a master’s she recently received in the psychological field, the name of the course had slipped her mind as she admitted that occasionally it’s difficult for her to keep track of everything she’s done.
“I’m going to have to look it up, it’s over there in the pile,” she said.
Attwater added the modern accessibility of online courses along with owning her own practice has provided her with the flexibility required to balance her day-to-day work life with constant schooling. However, it hasn’t always been convenient, as she once had to take 18 months off from work to complete a program.
“Sometimes they’re really time-commitment heavy but I can fit my schedule around them especially because I work for myself,” she said. “I’m lucky in that I can control my schedule at work which is nice, and I can take patients in the evening versus during the day If I need to.”
She said that she hopes her academic achievements can encourage women worldwide who are considering going back to school to make the jump into the classroom.
“I hope that so many women get inspired by this and go back to school and beat me a million times,” she said. “I think everyone should do grad school, you learn so much about yourself … it’s not for the faint of heart but it completely changes how you think about yourself (and) how you think about other people.”
The 42-year-old said one of the most common questions she receives is about how much student debt she’s accumulated as she endures a daunting pile of schoolwork.
Her answer is one that likely comes as a surprise to many.
“No, now I pay everything off,” she said, mentioning that she initially had some debt for “a little while.”
“The nice thing about doing so many, especially if you stick with the same school, you get ‘frequent flyer discounts’ … you can really find ways to make this affordable.”
The World Record Academy, which verified Attwater’s academic achievements, is “the largest organization which certifies world records” according to its website. The American-based institution is said to have the strictest rules in its verification process, including requiring most of its applicants to participate in a lie-detector test.
Attwater said she was willing to undergo the polygraph test, but it was determined unnecessary due to the large amount of official documentation associated with her application.
She said she also applied to the Guinness Book of World Records, but the World Record Academy was the first to respond as they specialize in academic achievements.
She admits she isn’t sure what she’ll do after reaching her next PhD-related objectives but is confident that she won’t call it quits on her seemingly never-ending search for knowledge.
“I do not plan on stopping,” she said. “Whenever I’m stressed about anything, school makes sense to me. That organization, the format, it’s a form of stress relief now for me.”
In addition to becoming one of the world’s newest record-holders, Attwater was also named “Woman of the Year” by the World Record Academy.
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