Pinto-Alvarez Selected as Finalist in Global Health Student Posters Competition
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Community health education doctoral student Mariana Pinto-Alvarez was one of three finalists in the Global Health Student Posters Competition at the 16th annual conference of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) held February 20-23, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Established in 2008 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation, CUGH is a Washington, DC based organization of over 190 academic institutions and other organizations from around the world engaged in addressing global health challenges.
Pinto-Alvarez presented “Gaps in the Ecuadorian Health System's Response to Venezuelan Migrants: A Qualitative Study” at the conference. Her research, under the mentorship of Daniel López-Cevallos and in collaboration with Irene Torres, technical director of the non-profit organization Fundación Octaedro in Ecuador, highlighted the needs of distressed migrants in Ecuador and how the health system responds to them.
There are many challenges for the health system in understanding the suffering and needs of distressed migrants, especially Venezuelan people who come from a country with limited health services, no vaccinations, and are forced to migrate as families, Pinto-Alvarez explains. However, the Ecuadorian health system guarantees free access to health care. Despite challenges such as a lack of resources and xenophobia, training programs have been developed for health care providers to improve their response to migrant populations.
The recognition makes Pinto-Alvarez feel that she’s on the right path. “With this achievement, I always think of my grandma and my mom—they are incredibly smart, but they did not have the same opportunities. I feel grateful for this, for the opportunity to be here at UMass, and for Dr. Daniel and Dr. Irene, who believe in and support me.”
“This honor highlights Mariana’s dedication to advancing community health policy and practice,” says López-Cevallos. “She came to this project right at the beginning of her doctoral studies and has since contributed significantly to shape our understanding of Venezuelan migrants’ right to health and educational services in Ecuador.”