HMP students compete in Global Rural Health Case Competition

Kylor Sorensen (MHA/MBA '18) and his team present during
the Global Rural Health Case Competition.

The University of Iowa Institute of Public Health Research and Policy hosted a global rural health case competition on April 4, 2018. The case competition brought together graduate students from multiple disciplines to form recommendations for addressing critical global rural health challenges. The case concerned the ongoing power crisis in Puerto Rico since the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. 

Reflections from two Health Management and Policy students who competed in the competition are included below:

Kylor Sorensen (MHA/MBA ’18, member of 2nd place team):

“My overall experience with the rural healthcare case competition was extremely positive. I particularly enjoyed working with a multidisciplinary team of students from a breadth of perspectives including health care, environmental health, behavioral health, medical, and engineering. This multi-disciplinary team approach provided us with the varied viewpoints necessary to confront a project of this scope.

In preparation for this case competition, I was fortunate to be able to draw from a variety of resources including second year MHA and MBA coursework. Especially helpful was experience from the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) case competition, that I was fortunate to be a part of last year as a member of the University of Iowa team. The NAHSE case competition experience provided me with experience of how to approach a case in a compressed timeframe, work as a multi-disciplinary team member, and present proposed healthcare leadership solutions in a convincing format.

The Puerto Rico public health case is another demonstration of how classroom and extra-curricular activities meld to provide practical application to real-life professional scenarios. These experiences will no doubt help me as a future healthcare leader.”

Redwan Bin Abdul Baten (PhD student, member of 3rd place team):

“The case competition was a creative initiative. This was a rare opportunity where students from multiple departments were brought together and urged to collaborate on solving a problem. 

This was an opportunity to put into practice the concepts of team building and leadership we are taught in class. We voiced our opinions and respectfully considered those of our teammates. We sacrificed our own ideas in the interest of the team. Sometimes keeping the team together took precedence on the list of priorities. And by doing so, we evolved from individuals to a team.

This year the case focused on the power crisis of Puerto Rico. As a public health student, one might have expected to be working with a health-related problem. Instead, it turned out to be a challenging learning experience. PhD student or not, this was just a great opportunity to learn and push the boundaries of imagination. 

Each competing team came to the table with something unique, which made us realize the benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration. This was the key take away point for me, something I will strive to remember in my future research initiatives.”