Maria Sanmartin Puig

Global Challenge: Education in Health

Abstract:

Growing up in Spain, going to the doctor was never something I thought twice about. It was routine, affordable, and expected. Moving to the United States for university changed that entirely. Over nearly six years, I watched my relationship with healthcare transform from one of trust to one of anxiety — not because I stopped caring about my health, but because I no longer understood the system I was supposed to use. Bills arrived without warning. Insurance terms were indecipherable. Every appointment felt like a financial gamble. I started avoiding care I probably needed, convincing myself that whatever was wrong would pass on its own.

This paper investigates that experience as a broader phenomenon. In the United States, nearly 40% of adults report delaying or skipping medical care due to cost — the highest rate ever recorded. This paper argues that the cause is not only financial. It is educational. When people do not understand how insurance works, how to read a medical bill, or how to advocate for themselves in a clinical setting, they avoid the system rather than engage with it. This pattern — which I call "preventive avoidance" — has serious consequences for individual and public health.
The paper proposes a dual solution: structural reforms like price transparency and surprise billing protections, paired with upstream health education integrated into schools, universities, and community programs. Both are necessary. Neither is sufficient alone.

My experience in GLASS brought this research into focus in a way that purely academic work could not. Living and studying across different cultural and institutional contexts taught me to see systems — not just as structures to navigate, but as reflections of the values a society holds. The GLASS program pushed me to ask why things work the way they do, and who bears the cost when they do not work well. Healthcare became my answer to that question. The intersection of my global challenge — healthcare avoidance driven by cost and low health literacy — with my research area in Engineering Health and Engineering and Culture is not incidental. It is personal. Engineering better health systems means designing them for the people most likely to be failed by them, and my time in GLASS gave me both the lens and the language to make that argument.

Bio:

Maria Sanmartin Puig (Class of 2026) is an engineer and problem-solver driven by a passion for building solutions that create meaningful impact. Born and raised in Barcelona, she brought an international perspective and a deep curiosity about how technology, strategy, and people intersect to improve organizations and the systems they operate within. Her work has been guided by a focus on delivering outcomes that make organizations stronger, more human-centered, and more effective.

Maria previously worked at Adobe as a Technical Account Manager, where she became certified in Adobe Customer Journey Analytics and partnered with clients to demonstrate the return on investment generated from digital experience products. By translating complex data into actionable insights, she helped organizations better understand customer behavior and make more informed strategic decisions.

At New York University, Maria served as the Lead Rapid Assembly & Design (RAD) Specialist for the introductory engineering program, where she trained and oversaw more than 100 mentor teaching assistants supporting first-year students in developing technical and design-thinking skills.

She was also committed to building inclusive communities as Treasurer of oSTEM at NYU, where she helped foster a supportive professional network for LGBTQ+ students and allies in engineering and technology.