MD-MBA research on Ayta primary health care patterns receives 2025 ASCEND Excellence Award

This year’s ASCEND Excellence Award for Postgraduate Coursework Research was awarded to Angelica Mae Agatep, Paul Daenniell Cuanang, Immanuel Zach Pacis, Erika Allanis Rafael, and Jyllian Rei Yap, Year Seven MD-MBA students, for their research entitled, “Understanding the Patterns of Primary Health Care Practices of the Indigenous Ayta Tribe in Pampanga”.

Their faculty adviser is Dr Aileen B Pascual, and their partner community is the Ayta tribe in Barangay Inararo, Porac, Pampanga.

Their group was praised for illuminating how indigenous knowledge can guide inclusive healthcare strategies. The award was presented during the Ateneo Service Learning Conference (ASLC) and Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement For National Development (ASCEND) “Beyond the Common Good, Strive for the Common Good” held on 13 June 2025 at Escaler Hall.

Understanding the Patterns of Primary Health Care Practices of the Indigenous Ayta Tribe in Pampanga investigates how 400 members of the Ayta community in Barangay Inararo, Porac, Pampanga define health, illness, and medicine through focus group discussions and thematic analysis. Building on a longstanding partnership, the research navigated ethical clearances with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the group immersed itself in daily life to capture personal narratives. Findings illuminate the centrality of agriculture in Ayta health beliefs, the interplay between individual well-being and communal welfare, and the dynamic interface between ancestral remedies and modern healthcare. Results inform inclusive health policy.

Congratulations to the Awardees!

Watch a short video about their research:

The University recognizes students whose work makes a significant impact through the Ateneo Socio-Civic Engagement for National Development (ASCEND). This year, ASCEND honored senior high school, undergraduate, and graduate students based at the Loyola campus and the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health whose projects and research outputs demonstrated subject mastery and the capacity for synthetic thinking while meaningfully engaging communities beyond Ateneo in contributing to national development.

The ASCEND Excellence Award is given to outstanding individuals and groups of students whose project or research work demonstrates, in an extraordinary manner, all three of the following:

1. Extraordinary mastery of subject matter and application of synthetic thinking.

2. Deep and extensive engagement with partner communities and/or institutions.

3. Addresses a national development concern in a strongly strategic and/or creative manner with very significant short-term impact on target beneficiaries and/or the potential for significant longer-term impact in promoting the well-being of the greatest number.

You may access the Book of Abstracts here: https://go.ateneo.edu/2025ASLCASCENDBookofAbstracts

Photo courtesy of the 2025 ASCEND Official Photos and Ayta Primary Health Care Patterns Group