Marcos Cueto

Marcos Cueto is one of the leading historians of science, medicine, and public health in Latin America. His early research focused on the Rockefeller Foundation’s technological projects in the region. Well before the COVID pandemic, Cueto conducted path-breaking research on epidemics in Latin America, focusing on how state and society interact to shape the success of public responses, with studies of Mexico and Peru. This research informs his recent analysis of the COVID pandemic and its heavy toll in Latin America, especially in Brazil. Throughout his career, Cueto has shown a strong interest in how indigenous knowledge and cultures have impacted medicine and health sciences, again, focusing on epidemics. In recent years, he has followed a global and comparative approach, with research on the history of the World Health Organization and scientific collaboration in the Global South. Cueto is currently a Professor of the History of Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.