Sara Marques, a former student of the Hospital Administration Specialisation Course (CEAH) at the NOVA National School of Public Health (NOVA NSPH), has been awarded the Coriolano Ferreira Prize, in recognition of her academic achievements and the contribution of her work in hospital management and architecture.
The award was presented during the 16th Value Conference of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators (APAH) and highlights the impact of Sara’s experience in the CEAH, which enabled the architect to deepen her understanding of hospital organisation and operations, integrating management perspectives into healthcare architecture projects.
For Sara Marques, the decision to enrol in the CEAH stemmed from a desire to gain a more thorough understanding of a hospital’s functional structure, in order to design healthcare buildings that are more efficient and aligned with the real needs of their users. “The course gave me access to perspectives and professionals that an architect rarely encounters, offering me a practical view of the hospital’s day-to-day life”, she emphasises.
The alumna also underlines the influence of this training on her professional trajectory. “This experience reshaped my career path and opened doors I had never considered possible”, she states, adding that since then, she has been working on hospital projects at national and international levels, striving to integrate the needs of all building users, from patients to operational and management staff.
Receiving the Coriolano Ferreira Award was, for the architect, “a great honour”, which she attributes to the collaborative and demanding environment of the course. “It was only possible thanks to the support of my colleagues and the engagement of the professors, who welcomed me to the CEAH despite my background outside healthcare, and who decisively contributed to my professional growth”, she explains.
NOVA NSPH congratulates Sara Marques on this recognition, which highlights the capacity of the Hospital Administration Specialisation Course to welcome diverse profiles and train professionals able to contribute, in an integrated manner, to the improvement of healthcare management, organisation, and infrastructure.
Such acknowledgements reinforce the role of the CEAH as a centre for advanced training, the production of relevant knowledge, and the bridging of theory and practice, contributing to the preparation of leaders capable of addressing the current and future challenges of healthcare.
