2021 YIGH Case Competition
The 2nd Annual YIGH Case Competition took place virtually on February 13th. Participants were challenged to develop an intervention that would address insufficient availability, accessibility, and affordability of mental health resources and services in Ukraine, focusing on children/adolescents, displaced and stateless persons, or health care workers. Five teams – who collaborated with Yale faculty advisors on their projects -- presented potential solutions. The winners and project titles are:
First Place: A community-based mental health program: A mobile clinic approach to care among internally displaced persons. Team members: Preeti Adhikary, Jiaying Chen, William Eger, Prastik Mohanraj, Samantha Ramirez. The first-place team won a $1200 cash prize and a one-on-one chat session with a Yale global health expert. They also will represent Yale at Emory University’s International Case Competition.
Second Place and People’s Choice Award: Community PTSD Treatment for Adolescents. Team members: Taina Lopez-Cartagena, Kiran Mansoor, Tabitha Njubi, Sarah Teng, Yan Xing. The second-place team won a $600 cash prize and a one-on-one chat session with a Yale global health expert. Chosen by the participants and faculty, this team also received an additional $300 as the People’s Choice Award winner.
Third Place: A web-based educational and Outreach Platform for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention. Team Members: Joseph Gyasi, Victoria Harries, Fatma Naz Cemre Kalayci, Revant Kantamneni, Sunnie Liu, Neha Middela. The third-place team received a one-on-one chat session with a Yale global health expert.
“We are so pleased to have attracted such a thoughtful and talented group of students this year,” said Michael Skonieczny, deputy director, Yale Institute for Global Health. “While only three teams were given awards, all the students came with potential solutions and great creativity to solving this challenge.”
Judges for this year’s competition included: Jason Abaluck, professor of economics at the Yale School of Management; Jim Boyle, executive director of venture development and faculty entrepreneurship, Yale Office of Cooperative Research; Ted Iheanacho, associate professor of psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine; Erika Linnander, director of Global Health Leadership Initiative; and, Lindsay Powell, assistant clinical Professor, Yale School of Nursing.
This year a donation was provided to the HAVEN Free Clinic Behavioral Health Department. HAVEN is a student-run free clinic that provides comprehensive healthcare services to undocumented and uninsured individuals in the greater New Haven area, including behavioral and mental health services.
Teams also had access to a group of faculty advisors including, Leslie Curry, professor of health policy and management at the Yale School of Public Health, Mayur Desai, associate dean for diversity, Yale School of Public Health and Kate Nyhan, research and education librarian, Yale School of Medicine.
The event was managed and led by Nükte Göç, MPH, program administrator at Global Health Leadership Initiative and a multidisciplinary student planning committee, including: Jenne Lahov, YSN’21, Misikir Adnew, YSPH ’21, Kelsey Jug, YSN ’22, Kubilay Kaymaz, YSPH ’21, Sina Reinhard, YSPH ’21, Mitchelle Matesva, YSM ’23, Annan Deng, YGSAS ’22.