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2012 Essay Contest

Announcing the 2012 Student Essay Contest winners! 

2008 Essay Contest Winners

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded prizes in the KaiserEDU.org 2008 Student Essay Contest. More than 300 students submitted memos to the contest, and after careful consideration, our panel of judges selected these students’ memos as the top graduate and undergraduate entries.

2008 Essay Contest Winners

Graduate Students

1st Place

Andrew Walquist
Andrew Walquist

Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions: Doctor of Physical Therapy Candidate

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2nd Place

Adrienne Poon
Adrienne Poon

Drexel University School of Public Health: MPH Candidate

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Undergraduate Students

1st Place

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez

Northwestern University: Political Science and Global Health

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2nd Place

Frank Chen
Frank Chen

Harvard College: Major: Molecular and Cellular Biology

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2008 Essay Contest Topic

The date is November 24th, 2008. You have just started a job as an analyst working on the President-elect's health care transition team. The director of the transition team has asked you to draft a memo to flesh out the health priorities for the new Administration on a major health policy issue. Select an issue area and a candidate (from the list below) and identify the major policies or strategies that the Administration could develop to advance this issue. Make sure to include evidence and analysis to support your recommendations. Your priorities and strategies should be consistent with the proposals forwarded by the candidates in the campaign. You should also address the challenges in implementing your recommendations, such as budgetary and political considerations, delivery system issues, and how different stakeholders and constituencies would perceive the proposals. Your memo should not exceed 800 words.

Issue Area:

Controlling Healthcare Costs
Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Expanding Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Efforts
Improving Women's Health
Improving the Quality of Health Care

Presidential Candidates (as of 1/22/2008):

Democrats
- Hillary Clinton
- John Edwards
- Mike Gravel
- Dennis Kucinich
- Barack Obama		Republicans
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
- Alan Keyes
- John McCain
- Ron Paul
- Mitt Romney

Review and Evaluation

The entries were judged by a panel of professionals with experience in health policy and politics from inside and outside the Kaiser Family Foundation. The final judges included Senator William Frist, M.D., former Senate Majority Leader; Chip Kahn, M.P.H., president of the Federation of American Hospitals; Ruth Katz, J.D., M.P.H., dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health; Drew Altman, Ph.D., Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO; and Diane Rowland, Sc.D., Kaiser Family Foundation executive vice president. The judges evaluated essays on originality, expression of ideas, strength of argument, and clarity.

Disclaimer

Conclusions or opinions expressed in these essays are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kaiser Family Foundation or the final judges.