Trio of triumphs for Paola Ardiles

By Phoebe Melvin

Health sciences lecturer Paola Ardiles is on a winning streak, having recently won three awards that acknowledge her exceptional contribution to the field of health promotion.

Firstly in November 2017 she was recognized as one of TD Bank’s ‘10 most influential Hispanic Canadians’. She was nominated for this award by Dr. Hugo de Burgos, a medical anthropologist at UBC-O and former recipient of this award in 2013. In this nomination he stated “Paola truly deserves this award because of her honest, hard and continuous work on improving health and well-being in our communities”. The award is a national award program that has been running since 2007 to recognize that the Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities in Canada.

Following this Ardiles received a national Health Promotion Canada Mid-Career Award, in acknowledgement for her leadership in the field of health promotion. One of the accomplishments that led to this award include her founding of Bridge for Health, a Vancouver based co-operative that encourages social innovation in health, and offers undergraduate and graduate students a range of study and volunteer opportunities.

Most recently Ardiles was awarded the SFU President’s Social Media Newsmaker of the Year Award which recognizes outstanding work engaging an online audience to shape public knowledge and opinion. Her ability to advance social change online, and incorporate the learning journeys of her students in social media posts particularly impressed the committee. Ardiles’ social media presence has helped to highlight that health is a fundamental right, and that everyone has a role to play in creating healthy communities, schools and workplaces.

The Health Sciences Faculty is extremely proud of Paola, and would like to congratulate her on winning these prestigious awards, as well as the hard work they represent!

_{If you would like to learn more join Paola's work you can follow her on Twitter @Paola_A_Ardiles or LinkedIN www.linkedin.com/in/paolaardiles and follow Bridge for Health on Facebookwww.facebook.com/Bridge4Health/}