Global Health Case Competition

The competition is open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from all areas of study from any University of Pittsburgh campus. Post-graduate and post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to participate. Teams must be composed of four to six students from three or more disciplines. There are three options for registration:

• A student may register individually and will be assigned teammates from other academic disciplines to form a full team.
• Two or three students may register as a partial team and will be assigned teammates from other academic disciplines to form a full team.
• Four to six students may register as a full team. Full teams must represent at least three different disciplines or schools and are highly encouraged to have representation of both graduate and undergraduate students. 
   

Those who register individually or in small groups will be assigned additional team members. Teams are assigned to ensure graduate/undergraduate mix and at least three schools/departments are represented.

Each team must assign a captain.

The case is a 10 to 20-page document that presents a real-world global health challenge, a specific time frame for project deliverables and a total budget amount.

Teams analyze the case, attend the workshops, conduct background research and create and present a proposed solution to the challenge with a supporting budget. Examples of previous year case competitions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@PittGlobalStudies/videos 

In addition to attendance at scheduled workshops in November, successful teams have found that spending an additional 10-20 hours working together on their project yields optimal results.

No but it is an option for University of Pittsburgh students to earn credit for their participation. If you choose to register as a student by the end of add/drop (Sept 4) you’ll enroll in PUBHLT 1902 if an undergraduate and BCHS 2511-1001 for graduate students.  Email Dr. Salter (cys6@pitt.edu) and Paul Margraf (pjm111@pitt.edu) for a special permission number. Students earning credit must attend all sessions, participate in the team presentation, and complete an evaluation form.

On November 14 at 12 PM, each team will submit a 10-minute prerecorded video with their team giving a PowerPoint presentation (with each team member participating.)  A committee of experts will review the videos and select the top four teams for the final round to present in front of a panel of judges, in person at the University of Pittsburgh Oakland campus on November 20th. Teams will be notified on November 17 if they have been selected to move on to the final round as one of the top four presentations.

The four finalists, on November 20th, will give a 15-minute in-person presentation with 10 minutes of Q&A immediately after each presentation. All students participating in the case competition are invited to attend the final four presentations on November 1st. Students participating for credit must attend all student presentations on the 20th.

Students will gain valuable experience developing a comprehensive strategy and competing in a world-recognized format to address a global health challenge.  Students gain experience learning how to effectively work as a productive team member, a much sought after competency. They also learn about project management tools and budgeting, about the specific health issue and its specific cultural and geographic context. Students gain access to faculty and leaders working in fields related to the case study.