Andrea Rivas

Andrea Rivas received her Master in Public Health with the Department of Epidemiology from the University of Washington. Andrea is a Peruvian physician with experience in primary healthcare, maternal and child health, and public health consulting. She is an MPH student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. In 2017, she was one of the Northern Pacific Global Health Fellows and a Fogarty Kuskaya Fellow, a program co-hosted by Cayetano Heredia University and the University of Washington. During her fellowship year, she developed a health center evaluation framework for a maternal and child health project in the Peruvian Amazon. Her initiative also contributed to the improvement of health facilities in rural areas and helped local authorities by providing first-hand information about the needs of hard-to-reach communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrea served as a front-line healthcare worker in Peru, facing the challenging conditions of the overburdened health system. In 2023, she completed her training in Nephrology in her home country, with international clinical and research experience in Brazil and the United States. Her research interests include improvement of healthcare access and prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Andrea worked on five projects during her two-year engagement with START, acting as the Project Manager for one of them.

Below are highlights from two of the projects Andrea worked on:

• Food Fortification in Latin America, Phase 2: The Foundation commissioned START to aid the Nutrition Program Strategy Team in implementing large-scale food fortification (LSFF) to tackle global micronutrient deficiencies. Phase I identified LSFF stakeholders and conducted case studies in Latin America (Chile, Costa Rica, & Guatemala), highlighting compliance monitoring programs. Mandatory fortification legislation and sanctions were found, with the Ministry of Health (MoH) as the central monitoring body. Phase II aimed to deepen understanding of fortification compliance in Costa Rica and Guatemala through key informant interviews, focusing on industry practices, regulatory bodies, coordination, and cooperation. The findings inform strategies to enhance food fortification compliance in the Latin American market.
• Menstrual Health Systematic Review: The Women's Health Innovation team enlisted the START Center to conduct a literature review to understand the effect of menstrual health product use on infectious outcomes (sexually transmitted infections, urogenital infections, & bacterial vaginosis), and identify corresponding gaps in the literature.

Reflecting on her time with START, Andrea said, "My time as a Research Assistant at START was an invaluable opportunity to apply the skills I was gaining through my MPH in Epidemiology to large-scale projects in public and global health. It was also a welcoming and supportive environment for international students like myself. In addition to strengthening my research and policy skills, START provided hands-on training in leadership and project management that complemented and enhanced the academic coursework in my graduate program. The experience offered a multidimensional foundation that enriched my time at UW."