The winners of the 10th annual D.C. Public Health Case Challenge were announced on Oct. 6, 2023. This year’s challenge topic was “A Public Health Approach to Improve the Health of Women Experiencing Homelessness in D.C.”
Housing is a social determinant of health and a fundamental human right, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that on one single night in January 2022, 582,462 people, or roughly 18 out of every 10,000 people, were experiencing homelessness in the United States.
The 2023 Case Challenge focused on the health needs of women experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C., and on developing broad-based, population-level preventive approaches to respond to those needs. The seven competing teams from D.C.-area universities — each with up to six members from at least three disciplines — were given two weeks to develop a solution to this complex problem with a hypothetical $1 million budget to be used during a two-year span. The teams presented their solutions to a panel of expert judges who evaluated the interdisciplinary nature of the proposals, feasibility of implementation, creativity, and practicality.
The 2023 Grand Prize winner was the team from George Washington University, which included Shawn Bayrd, Fatima Elgarguri, Anna Hochberg, Nick Jennings, Wendy Post, and Soukeyna Sylla, with faculty advisers Gene Migliaccio and Jen Skillicorn. Their “Washington Public Health Collaborative” presented a solution called “& Every Woman.” The team’s approach was focused on LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing homelessness and sought to address mental health and shelter safety, given the evidence indicating that LGBTQ+ individuals face greater threats to their personal safety than non-LGBTQ individuals. Their plan included delivering bystander intervention training to shelter staff and residents, and use of a Discord server to create and maintain a safe space for community-building and sharing of resources and personal experiences among LGBTQ+ youth.
Three additional prizes were awarded:
The Harrison C. Spencer Interprofessional Prize was awarded to the team from Georgetown University, which presented “DC Heal,” a medical-legal partnership focused on responding through mobile, community-based legal and health services to the needs of women facing housing insecurity, and by engaging in advocacy for policy change. Team members were Ayomide Aduloju, Erica Kim, Shereika Mills, Salvatore (Sal) Sulimay, Nicole Vernot-Jonas, and Allison Willett, and faculty adviser Anne Rosenwald.
One Wildcard Prize — for a community-centered solution — went to the Howard University team for a project titled “REACH” (Reaching Equity Access & Championing Health Outcomes), focused on the reproductive health needs of cis and trans women experiencing homelessness and designed a mobile reproductive health care clinic intervention that was community-centered and partnered with a local HBCU. Team members were Bukky Babalola, Carys Carr, Ayomide Ogunsakin, Sommore Robinson, Brooke Solomon, and Alex Wheeler, and faculty advisers Monica Ponder and Pamela Carter Nolan.
The other Wildcard Prize — for innovation — was awarded to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, team comprised of Byron Cheung, Sara Devaraj, Anika Hamilton, Christina Interrante, Elizabeth Mcallister, and Martha Rondon, and faculty advisor Greg Carey. The proposed solution, “Women’s Wellness on Wheels,” included providing dignity services such as hair care (including culturally competent care for Black women) and shower facilities for women experiencing homelessness, and an AI strategy to improve provider understanding of and responsiveness to the needs of the individuals they serve.
The 2023 Case Challenge judges were:
- Grace Arenas, development and engagement specialist at Everyone Home DC, a nonprofit organization providing support to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness
- Christa C. Gilliam, associate professor at the Morgan State University School of Social Work in Baltimore
- Marquisha Johns, associate director for public health policy at Center for American Progress
- Willie (Billy) Oglesby, Humana dean for the Jefferson College of Population Health
- Eman Quotah, a D.C.-based communications consultant, essayist, and novelist who previously helped manage the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth
The D.C. Public Health Case Challenge, launched in 2013, aims to promote interdisciplinary, problem-based learning around a public health issue of importance to the Washington, D.C., community. The challenge is co-sponsored by the National Academy of Medicine’s Kellogg Health of the Public Fund and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, with support from the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education.
