Paul Arciero, New York

This month, we are thrilled to honor Paul Arciero in this edition of the Advocate Spotlight!

Paul is a Board Member for the Capital Region Advisory Board and a Professor and Director of the Human Nutrition and Metabolism Laboratory in the Health and Exercise Sciences Department at Skidmore College. When our Advocacy Department started working on a campaign to secure funding to create the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile hiking and biking trail throughout NYS, we knew Paul was the perfect advocate for the issue!

Not only did Paul e-mail and call his legislators urging their support of the trail, he also wrote a Letter to the Editor to the local paper on the reasons why this Trail would be so beneficial and the importance of engaging in physical activity for your health. Ultimately, the legislature agreed and approved $200M for the creation of the trail to be completed over the next three years!

Paul became involved with the AHA back in 2011 when he was invited as a guest speaker at the Go Red for Women event to speak on the research he’s conducted about the effects of healthy eating and physical activity on cardiovascular, metabolic, and emotional health in women. Soon after, he was invited to join the Advisory Board of the Capital Region and was thrilled to be a part of AHA. Over the years, he has taken an active role with AHA events such as Heart Walk, Heart Ball, National Eating Healthy Day, visited Capitol Hill in Washington DC for “You’re the Cure on the Hill” to lobby on behalf of AHA for the National Institute of Health for Heart Disease Research and Stroke Prevention as well as the School Lunch Program, and been quoted in numerous Press Releases (both print and television) by the AHA for various public health initiatives such as healthy eating, exercise and physical activity and stroke prevention.

Paul says, “My involvement with the AHA has definitely been the most rewarding experience of my professional career in terms of public health outreach on important initiatives of healthy lifestyle. Specifically, it’s provided me a fantastic platform to share my research on the benefits of healthy eating and physical activity on heart health with the general public through the leading organization in the world devoted to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke (AHA).”

Thank you Paul for your continued dedication to the AHA and for all you do to improve the health and well-being of all New Yorkers!