Student Spotlight: Madeline Pesec ’16

Concentration:

Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Public Health

Hometown:

Cleveland, Ohio

Tell us about your thesis and your work with Ariadne Labs.

This past year, I wrote two theses respectively entitled, “The Compelling Case of Costa Rica: How a Central American Country Build a Robust Primary Health Care System” and "A Systematic Review of Interventions to Reduce Health and Healthcare Disparities in US Latino Populations.”

I first worked with Ariadne Labs last summer (2015) as a Primary Health Care Intern. We worked to launch the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative website and investigated metrics to measure primary health care around the world. As a Latin American and caribbean studies concentrator, I was able to investigate the primary health care practices of Brazil, Cuba, and Costa Rica. My work on Costa Rica led to the development of my honors thesis for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. I investigated the history and development of Costa Rica’s primary healthcare system over the past century. Their use of small teams to provide preventative and curative care to the Costa Rican population has enabled Costa Rica to achieve excellent health outcomes. My thesis will hopefully be published on the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative this summer.