On March 29, a team of six Dartmouth students placed fifth in Emory University’s international Morningside Global Health Case Competition. During the competition, which lasted two days and included students from 28 universities, teams presented solutions to addressing cervical cancer in Western Kenya.
The Dartmouth group was the only team fully composed of undergraduate students to make the final round of competition, according to team captain Vedant Tapiavala ’26. Most of the finalists were medical students.
The youngest team member, Kaveri Krishnamoorthy ’28, said it was an important topic in a “difficult” political time.
“Especially in the space of global and public health, it is more important than ever for people to speak up, educate and advocate,” she said.
The six Dartmouth team members — Najma Bore ’27, Tapiavala, Michael Dong ’26, Krishnamoorthy, Allison Nathan ’27 and Alexander Yee ’27 — are all members of the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health, a student organization within the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding which educates and advocates for global health issues.
To tackle the case, the group split the presentation into different sections, according to Tapiavala. Some presented on cervical cancer screening itself while others focused on education or transportation.
Senior associate director of global health and development at the Dickey Center Dawn Carey said she was “very proud” of the team.
“We are so very proud that they were in the final five,” Carey said. “[The competition] had medical students, business school students, so it’s just wonderful.”
Nathan, who is president of DCGH, said the Dickey Center helped the group with the logistics and funding of the trip. Carey, who also serves as a faculty advisor for the coalition, acted as an advisor for the team in preparation for the competition.
“When the case first came out, the six of us met as a group a couple of times to start thinking through our ideas, and then we met with [Carey] to get her feedback on our ideas before we moved any further with fully making our case,” Nathan said. “We all love [Carey] so much. She’s so supportive and knowledgeable.”
According to Dong, the DCGH plans to attend the competition again next year, as well as continuing other organizational activities such as hosting guest speakers, holding weekly meetings and conducting their own case competitions.
Nathan encouraged students who are interested in global health to join the coalition as a way to “build community.”
“In light of everything that is happening in the global landscape right now … I think having that opportunity to connect as a group is really important,” Nathan said.
