Since 2010, the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health has hosted the case competition annually as a means of engaging students in the complex questions that global health work presents. It is an exciting and unique opportunity for students at UAB to come together as multidisciplinary teams and propose innovative recommendations to a global health issue.
The case competition is an educational opportunity that features teams of 4-6 students representing at least three different UAB schools. Teams are given a case scenario featuring a real-life global health problem and are tasked with providing strategic recommendations to move the case subject forward efficiently and effectively.
Teams present their recommendations to a panel of judges who then score the teams. The top three teams are awarded with cash prizes.
First Place: $1,500
Second Place: $1,000
Third Place: $500
2025 UAB Global Health Case Competition
Why Should You Compete in a GHCC?
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Educational Opportunity
“…Working with other students from various educational backgrounds and experiences was extremely rewarding and helped me grow in teamwork, critical thinking, and allowed me to utilize my problem-solving skills from engineering. Each case was interesting because it encompassed problems from multiple angles including religion, education, culture, nutrition, medicine, and more. This really allowed students to think of solutions from a multi-dimensional perspective. Every student I know has fully enjoyed the competition and always looks forward to more competitions.”
Priyanka Parajuli, Past UAB GHCC Competitor
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Networking with UAB Faculty and Staff
Meet global health faculty here at UAB and global health professionals from the Birmingham community!
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Connect with UAB Students
Interact with students across the UAB campus from different education levels and backgrounds!
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Obtain Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Skills
Connect your area of study to global health work in real life situations. Whether it’s engineering, public health, business, medicine, education, theatre, or any other areas of study. Your background, information, and ideas are valuable!
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Gain Global Health Knowledge
Learn about the real-life socioeconomic, ethical, and cultural issues encountered in global health.
Team Registration
Students can sign up as individuals or as a team. To register as a team, gather 4-6 students representing at least 3 different UAB schools. The possibilities are endless! For undergraduate students, your school is based on your major.
Individual Registration
Don’t have a team? No problem! Students can register as an individual for the GHCC using the same form as team registration. Once the registration window closes, the Sparkman team will combine individual registrants to create a new team!
Faculty Mentors
Each team competing will be assigned a UAB faculty member as a mentor that they can consult for up to one hour during the case competition week.
Case Release and Competition Week
The case will be released via email to the team captains on the Thursday before competition week. From that point until the end of the competition, teams cannot discuss the case topic with other competing teams or professors at UAB that are not their assigned mentor. Teams can (and are encouraged to) consult with academic sources through UAB libraries or other sources to support the development of their response to this year’s case. All sources should be properly cited in the final presentation.
Past Cases and Presentations
Curious as to what a typical case looks like? View the 2022 Global Health Case Competition's first place winner video.