Maddie Bessler, MPH

Maddie Bessler, M.P.H. is a Research Assistant 1 at Pacific Research and Evaluation. She earned her Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota in Community Health Promotion. During her time at the University of Minnesota, she worked as a graduate teaching assistant, presented research for her Capstone projects on health equity and global health, and completed a Masters Applied Practice Experience that included piloting and evaluating a program to bring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to a rural farmers market. This task included building and analyzing a survey independently and working with several stakeholders including government agencies, as well as training vendors on SNAP requirements and health communication with the public, which included fact sheet and infographic design. In addition, she collected survey data for an adjacent project called VeggieRx that prescribed produce bags to people with chronic health conditions. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kansas with a degree in Human Biology with a concentration in psychology. During her time at the University of Kansas, Maddie worked as a research assistant for the Kansas Biological Survey collecting and preparing samples for analysis, entering sample data, and teaching ecology to local elementary students. During her time at the University of Kansas she also worked at Jaydoc Free Clinic as a Social Service Intern. Her role at Jaydoc was to offer resources for more sustainable healthcare, collecting interview and survey data using RedCap, and distributing appropriate resources based on survey data. Ms. Bessler joined PRE in 2024 and supports a variety of projects including the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s Athlete Culture & Climate Survey, the Oregon Consortium Strengthening Community Colleges evaluation, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Kaulike Ola evaluation. Outside of PRE, Maddie enjoys hiking with her dog, Rosie, as well as reading, thrifting, and exploring breweries around Portland.

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