Georgetown School of Medicine (SOM) students Ryan Braun (M’26), Evan Czulada (M’25), Stefan Prvulovic (M’27), Holly Shan (M’25), and Mana Sheykhsoltan (M’25) 10th Annual Scholarship of $3,000 Georgetown’s public policy challenge (PPC) Sponsored by Finals McCourt School of Public Policy April 5, 2024.

Of the 40 team applications submitted, 5 teams finalist team advanced to the final round. Each team of graduate students presented their work to a live audience and a panel of judges that included McCourt School alumni, past PPC winners, and Georgetown University’s Vice President for Community Engagement and Local Government.

The SOM team’s winning policy proposal, “Trimming Risk,” proposed a new partnership between the Washington, D.C. government and local barbershops to raise blood pressure readings and connect at-risk patients to treatment. .

“During my hospital rotations, I saw countless patients with dire consequences due to uncontrolled high blood pressure,” said Shang, a health justice scholar at SOM.

Shan called on friends and colleagues with a shared passion to address Washington, D.C.’s high blood pressure crisis, and together they discovered that barbershops in states like California, Texas, and Colorado were testing their customers’ blood pressure. did. “So we thought, ‘Why not try this in Washington, D.C.?'”

She and her teammates submitted a proposal to address heart disease in the D.C. metropolitan area for the 2023 Public Policy Challenge, but it didn’t make it past the first round.

“It took us several months of soul searching to realize that our proposal was too big and a little too chaotic,” Brown said.

The barbershop intervention, which played a minor role in the SOM team’s previous proposal, became the most important element in the second attempt.

“We were passionate about showing everyone why we believed in it and how it provides an opportunity to put health care back into the hands and hearts of communities,” Brown said.

“Trimming Risk” marks the School of Medicine team’s second policy proposal win in three years. Czulada attributes the school’s recent success to the unique ability of medical students to harness their passion for helping people and turn that experience into solutions.

“Over four years, we have acquired a tremendous amount of information about the human body and what can go wrong, and have spoken to countless patient stories at numerous clinics, hospitals, and community organizations. “As a result, I was able to see first-hand the problems that patients have on a daily basis,” said Churada.

“We are deeply influenced and motivated to take on the problems we know need to be solved. “We will provide the skills needed to effectively demonstrate to policy practitioners and decision makers how this can help,” he said.

The care with which SOM team members approach healthcare is evident in their policy proposals. Community values ​​such as lasting connections, trust, and loyalty shared between customers and barbers are all central themes.

“Leveraging this bond was critical to ensuring community buy-in,” Sheikh Soltan said, adding that the team carefully considered the perspectives and priorities of both barbers and their customers throughout the development process. He emphasized that he had considered it.

“Ultimately, by empowering community voices through simple and effective steps, our policy resonated with others and led to our success in the Public Policy Challenge,” Pruvlović said. .

Over the next few months, Mr. Brown, Mr. Chulada, Mr. Pruvlović, Mr. Shan, and Mr. Sheikh Soltan will work with community leaders and policymakers to implement the proposal in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about the annual Georgetown Public Policy Challenge.