Ana Bonilla

Ana Bonilla, an urban and regional planning master’s (MURP) candidate at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs,, has been awarded the 2016 Judith McManus Price Scholarship by the American Planning Association (APA).

Bonilla, who is also completing a joint master’s degree in public health at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, will receive the $4,000 scholarship awarded each year to women and minority students in accredited planning programs who intend to pursue careers in the public sector, said Monica Groh, APA Director of Emerging Professionals.

After working in the healthy communities field in her hometown of Long Beach for a number of years, Bonilla said her decision to enroll in the concurrent master’s programs was inspired by “the inextricable link between planning and other disciplines, specifically health.”

Now in her third year in the concurrent program, Bonilla said she is looking forward to applying the principles of these fields in Los Angeles County.

“We know now that the built environment can impact our health — that our zip code is a better predictor of our life expectancy than our genetic code. But now we need to move into ‘how’ we address these seemingly intractable problems,” Bonilla said. “I want to push these ideas further and bring the conversation forward on how we can embed health and equity in our land use systems and practices so that we can promote the health and well-being of all Angelenos.”

More about the Judith McManus Price Scholarship may be found at:
https://planning.org/scholarships/recipients/mcmanusprice.htm

To see current and past winners of the McManus Price Scholarship please visit:
https://planning.org/foundation/price.htm