From left: Einstein medical students Scott Wilson, Chetali Jain, and Andrew Brook, members of the 2021 team.
Three Einstein medical students were part of a team that placed second among 52 university and college groups in the Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition, held virtually this year in March.
The annual event is an academic simulation that challenges students to address a real-world global health issue. The six-member team consisted of Einstein’s Andrew Brook, Chetali Jain, and Scott Wilson, as well as two public-health students from the City University of New York and a student from the Cardozo School of Law.
They were given just four days to design a COVID-19 vaccination program and find solutions for challenges such as vaccine hesitancy and inequitable distribution. The team selected Nigeria from four countries offered in this year’s case challenge. The students focused on reaching Nigerian youth through TV ads, a cell-phone app, and social media. They also recommended mobile vaccine units and meetings with local religious leaders.
Adebola Adedimeji, Ph.D., M.B.A., research associate professor of epidemiology & population health at Einstein, served as an adviser to the students.
Einstein’s teams have placed among the top three for two years in a row in the competition. “The students tell me it is one of their best learning experiences. And they see how valuable it is to work as part of an interdisciplinary team,” says Jill Raufman, M.P.H., M.S., director of Einstein’s Medical Student Global Health Programs and associate director of the Global Health Center, which sponsors the teams each year.
