Dr. Silke Appel-Cresswell, movement disorder neurologist, director of the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre and co-founder/director of the BC Brain Wellness Program (BCBWP), has been nominated for a prestigious YWCA Women of Distinction Award.

Dr. Appel-Cresswell’s nomination is in the Research, the Sciences & Technology category, which celebrates a woman who has made a significant and sustained difference in Metro Vancouver through her dedicated pursuit of scientific, technological and/or research-based discoveries.

And does Dr. Appel-Cresswell ever meet those criteria.

Co-founding the BCBWP and launching it in 2019, the program is a one-of-a-kind, donor-funded program utilizing evidence-based research to foster wellbeing in chronic brain disease and aging through exercise, nutrition, music, stress reduction and community building. What started with 75 participants has exploded to 2,000, with an increase of five classes to 28, and over 3,000 hours of free programming. Since the pandemic, the program has successfully shifted into a hybrid model, increasing access to those across BC including under-served areas.

In addition, Dr. Appel-Cresswell is an accomplished movement disorder neurologist at the Movement Disorder Clinic at Vancouver Coastal Health and holds the Marg Meikle Professorship for Research in Parkinson’s disease. Her research focuses on the role of the microbiome and nutrition in Parkinson’s disease and other brain disorders, care delivery in Parkinson’s, as well as coping strategies, resilience and neuropsychiatric features of Parkinson’s.

Dr. Appel-Cresswell is an associate professor at UBC, and her contributions to teaching were recognized with the “Department of Medicine (UBC) Master Teacher Award” in 2018. She served as the president of the Canadian Movement Disorder Group, as the director of the annual Canadian National Residents Movement Disorder Course, and is a scientific advisor for Parkinson Canada and for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation Canada as well as a peer reviewer for several scientific journals.

The 2023 Women of Distinction Awards will take place on May 9, 2023.

Join us in wishing the best of luck to Dr. Appel-Cresswell!