The annual Vanderbilt Global Health Case Competition took place on February 17, 2018 in Featheringill Hall Auditorium and Atrium. This year's case topic was “Improving Health Outcomes Through Expanding Access to Emergency Medical Service in Rural Guyana,” which was announced at the case reveal on February 7. Zulfilkar Bux, M.D., Medical Director of Guyana Emergency Medical Service, Head of Emergency Department, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Guyana, and Marlon Gentle, Chief Fire Officer, Guyana Fire Service served as keynote speakers at the reveal. Between the case reveal and competition day, teams of undergraduate and graduate students were given ten days to develop a proposal for this global health topic.
On the day of the competition, teams of students had ten minutes to present their proposals to a panel of judges. In addition to team presentations, the day included a Global VU panel, which gave competitors and attendees the opportunity to ask questions to Vanderbilt faculty members working in global health. After the panel, three teams were chosen as finalists. First place was awarded to Team 9, whose presentation was entitled, “Rural Emergency Access Channels to the Hinterland (REACH).” Team 9 was composed of Jamal Merritt, Alexandra Bronson, Lin Fei, Victoria Shi, John Lee, and Jessica Howard. As the winning team of the Vanderbilt Global Health Case Competition, they will represent Vanderbilt at the 2018 International Global Health Case Competition held at Emory University on March 16 and 17.
Olivia Harris, Vanderbilt undergraduate, and Miller Morris, M.A., M.P.H. candidate, served as the co-chairs for the event. The competition was organized by the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health Student Advisory Council.