Rules and FAQs

The HeLa Case Competition is designed to source solutions to pervasive health disparities in areas such as health coverage, chronic health conditions, mental health, and mortality in underrepresented populations.

Rules of the competition and common questions are found on this page.

eligibility

Teams must comprise of 3-5 students from an accredited graduate program and enrolled in their respective institution during the Spring 2025 academic semester. At least one member of the team must be an MBA student. Multiple teams from one university may apply. Graduate students from all disciplines i.e., business, law, public health, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry are eligible to apply.

Preference will be given to teams that can present in person, but special exceptions will be allowed for international teams who may not be able to travel to Ann Arbor.

Competition

All communication with participants, case materials, and presentations must be provided in English. Semifinalists and finalists will be selected by a panel of judges who are academic and business leaders within the healthcare industry.

Selected participants are required to submit their presentations in PowerPoint format. By submitting your application, you give the Henrietta Lacks Health Equity Case Competition committee consent to share your resume, presentation, and all applicable details to the sponsor organization for their internal use.

The presentation order will be randomly assigned to participating teams on the evening of Friday, February 14th. Presentations will begin the morning of Saturday, February 15th.

Participating teams will be assigned a team number to avoid revealing university affiliation. Teams are not permitted to share their university during the presentations.

Teams will have 15 minutes to present, followed by 5 minutes of questions from the judges. Scoring will be negatively impacted if teams go over their 15-minute limit.

Following Round 1 of presentations in the morning, judges will deliberate and decide which teams will move on to the final round. Teams advancing to the final round will present their recommendations again followed by another set of questions from judges.

prizes

1st Place: $5,000

2nd Place: $3,000

3rd Place: $2,000