The winners of the fourth annual D.C. Public Health Case Challenge were announced at this year’s National Academy of Medicine annual meeting. The challenge aims to promote interdisciplinary, problem-based learning around a public health issue of importance to the local Washington, D.C. community.
Universities in the D.C. area formed teams consisting of five to six members from at least three disciplines. Teams were given a case, written by an independent team of students from the participating universities, and given two weeks to devise a comprehensive intervention for a local public health problem. An expert panel judged the teams on the interdisciplinary nature of their response, feasibility of implementation, creativity, and practicality.
The 2016 Case Challenge topic was “The Changing American City and Implications for Health and Well-being of Vulnerable Populations.” The student teams were asked to develop a solution to this pressing problem with a hypothetical $2 million budget.
2016 DC Public Health Case Challenge participants
The 2016 Grand Prize winner was George Washington University. Team members Amelia Whitman, Ans Irfan, Jenny Reiner, Mary Bonnell, Puja Sheth, and Taylor Tresatti proposed a solution titled “Communities for Collective Action (C4CA).” Their intervention was intended to empower communities to make their voices heard, to support cross-sector collaboration, and to facilitate greater knowledge of and access to community resources through an app.
Three additional prizes were awarded:
Practicality Prize: Howard University team’s solution, Project Renew D.C., was intended to address the scarcity of healthy food, facilitate access to health care services, and provide community health education. (Team members: Keemi Ereme, Amoge Ezike, Deawodi Ladzekpo, Mark Lorthe, Lavern Smith, Tamea Williams.)
2016 Grand Prize-winning team: George Washington University
Practicality Prize: The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences team proposed InSPIRE (Innovative School Program for Resiliency and Engagement), an intervention intended to address the mental health needs of and develop coping skills in D.C. elementary school children affected by homelessness. (Team members: Evan Gregg, Horace Hayes, Alexander Leeds, Emad Madha, and William Valiant.) The USUHS team was also selected to present at the Leadership Across Generations Luncheon at the National Academy of Medicine annual meeting.
