2023 FHS Undergraduate Awards

Arti Shridhar: FHS Award for Outstanding Service to the Faculty of Health Sciences

The most memorable part of Arti Shridhar’s undergraduate experience at SFU was volunteering with student led organizations. Being an executive member of the Health Sciences Undergraduate Student Union provided her with opportunities to connect with staff, faculty, and peers outside of her studies to make real changes in the university community. Shridhar’s time serving as a leader on the team connected her with amazing people, which made her time at SFU well-rounded and fulfilling.

Shridhar also volunteers for Fraser Health as a Patient Advisor. In this role, she uses her perspective as a chronically ill individual to provide feedback about her experiences within the healthcare system so that it may be improved for the future. Shridhar’s favourite part of being on this team is that it promotes a diverse, inclusive environment for marginalized groups to become advocates for their own health.

Shridhar’s biggest piece of advice to current undergraduates is to take your time! FHS has many extracurricular opportunities such as co-op, research, and volunteering that will not only supplement your education, but will help guide you in the right direction for your post-grad pursuits. Take advantage of the resources that SFU has to offer and make the most of your undergraduate journey. What you get out of your degree is more important than the time it takes to finish it.

Chloe Goodison: FHS Award for Extraordinary Achievement

Having completed her third year at SFU, Chloe Goodison has found many ways to stay engaged and inspired while pursuing her BSc in Health Sciences. She has been able to capitalize on her keen interests in community and public health by taking courses that focus on harm reduction, community-level health prevention, health inequities, and the social determinants of health. 

Goodison has greatly enjoyed her time as the President of The FentaNIL Project, SFU's harm reduction and peer-education club. She is looking forward to finishing her next two years at SFU in this role, and she is grateful to work with such a committed and caring team who genuinely want to bring awareness to the overdose crisis and save lives. 

She has also been developing her non-profit, NaloxHome, which she was the Student-Community Engagement Competition 2020-21 grand prize winner for her overdose education and naloxone training program. Recently, she reached over 5,000 people in BC with her program over a 2-year span

Goodison believes that you do not have to leave your own postal code to make a big difference in the world, and advises getting involved. She sees the value in community involvement, pointing to health inequities and opportunities for improvements in our local communities and by showing compassion to enhance life for others.

Precious Akindele: FHS Award for Outstanding Community Service

Precious Akindele has always had a passion for learning and serving her community. During her degree, she was involved in various programs in SFU and beyond. Such experiences include mentoring new comer youth with the SFU-TD Community Engagement Centre, being a HIVE Leader, and Co-Directing the FHS Peer Mentorship Program.

One memorable experience of her undergraduate degree was travelling to South Africa with MPH students to take part in an experiential global health course on understanding contributors to HIV and health inequities in sub-Saharan African youth. Akindele also completed her degree with an interdisciplinary honours project under the supervision of Dr. Mark Brockman. She studied the associations between inflammatory cytokines and demographics, stress, and depression.

Outside of SFU, she currently serves as the Director of Administration of Find Your Path Canada, where she collaboratively develops Afrocentric educational programming for Black and first-generation youth in the Greater Toronto Area. Additionally, she is a Patient Experience Survey Volunteer at the Burnaby General Hospital. In this role, she enjoys speaking with patients about their hospital experience, and working towards quality improvement in the healthcare system.

Akindele is truly thankful to her community of support through this degree—her family, friends, and many mentors. For a word of advice, she encourages students to invest in community and to be open when circumstances do not go according to plan. University brings unexpected circumstances yet those times can be moments of redirection and growth.

Peter Hong: FHS Award for Citizenship and Exemplary Academic Performance, and FHS Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, BSc Program

Peter Hong has always had the desire to connect theoretical knowledge learned from courses in a practical research setting. Such a passion allowed him to work at the Injury Prevention and Mobility Laboratory conducting geriatric falls research, and the Lee Laboratory, assisting Dr. Frank Lee's research on Parkinson's disease. Hong believes that FHS provided such fulfilling opportunities for him to maximize his potential.

Throughout his undergraduate experience, Hong participated in student organizations as an executive member, including the FHS Peer Mentorship Program, UNICEF SFU, and Variety for Tomorrow. Such student leadership roles allowed him to engage with the SFU community.

Hong advises students to be not afraid to ask for help from their community. Further, he recommends keeping the door open for opportunities.

Bita Gholamian: FHS Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, BA Program

Throughout her undergraduate journey, Bita Gholamian had the privilege of partaking in academic and extracurricular activities that nurtured her passion for health equity and research. A highlight of her degree was completing her undergraduate honours thesis focused around evaluating patient satisfaction among a Vancouver cohort treated for Hepatitis C. Additionally, she collaborated on a research project exploring HIV research methodology with funding from an Undergraduate Student Research Award.

Gholamian fondly recalls supporting incoming first-year FHS students as a peer mentor and HIVE leader, as well as the greater student body as Co-Lead of the Student Health Advisory Committee. She hopes to continue impacting others in a positive way beyond her time at SFU.

One piece of advice Gholamian would give to her first-year self and fellow undergraduate students is to take every presented opportunity with passion and confidence. She believes that pursuing a variety of opportunities with a positive attitude, as well as a genuine willingness to learn and grow, is pivotal to the undergraduate experience. Gholamian is immensely grateful for her fellow students and faculty mentors who consistently supported her, and encourages others to surround themselves with people who have their best interest in mind.