Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition
A Top Global Case Competition
“When you have this many really talented, gifted and experienced individuals working on healthcare problems you realize that over time, they can have an impact and make the world a better place.” Hear from Professor Tim Calkins, Academic Director of the competition, about what makes this event so special.
Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition
The Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition is one of the oldest and most prestigious case competitions in the world. The 2025 competition will be the 24th annual event.
The format of the competition has remained relatively consistent: teams of students from top universities gather in Evanston, Illinois, to present their recommendations for addressing a complex healthcare problem. Judges from top healthcare firms evaluate the presentations and select the winners.
The topic is new each year. The one constant is that it is a complex question. One year teams had to consider how to build acceptance for the COVID vaccine, another year the topic was increasing chlorhexidine use in Nigeria, and still another year teams had to forecast revenues for Palforzia, a treatment for peanut allergies.
The competition brings together some of the most talented and enthusiastic emerging healthcare leaders. The goals of the event are to build connections, enhance skills and hopefully have a small impact on improving health outcomes.
Applications are due in November and the competition is in January.
Previous Case Competitions
Kellogg Team Wins 2024 Biotech and Healthcare Case Competition
On January 27, twelve teams from eleven top business schools competed in the 2024 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition in Evanston, Illinois. This was the 24th year of the event, and once again competition was fierce. Moderna sponsored the weekend.
A team from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management won the competition, with a team from Chicago Booth finishing second.
The topic this year: how can Novo Nordisk ensure that under-served communities in the United States benefit from the weight-loss drug, Wegovy? The case was complex, forcing teams to consider a range of dynamics from market access to physician education to patient acceptance. Given the enormous potential population for weight-loss drugs as well as capacity constraints, how should Novo approach the opportunity? Obesity is linked to a range of health-issue, but the cost and patient hesitancy are major barriers.
The winning teams developed thoughtful plans that addressed multiple stakeholders in a creative, strategic way. The teams then presented their recommendations with confidence and conviction.
The final round teams came from a remarkable collection of schools: SDA Bocconi School of Management, Johnson School of Business at Cornell, Chicago Booth, Duke Fuqua, Northwestern Kellogg, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, Jones School of Business at Rice University, Michigan Ross School of Business, and Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
A total of 64 teams from 25 schools in 7 countries applied to the event. Judges were healthcare executives from companies including AbbVie, Astellas and Lundbeck.
The winning team from Kellogg: Allie Myers, Kyle Reed, Olivia Bounadere, Jon Chuko and Mahbod Pourriahi.
The second place team from Chicago Booth: Hayden Koerwer, Liisa Parts, Amrish Soundararajan, Pengyu Yi.
Tuck Wins 2023 Kellogg Healthcare Case Competition
On January 28, eleven teams from ten business schools and three countries gathered in Evanston to compete in the 2023 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition sponsored by Moderna. The topic: How should Pfizer bring its new RSV vaccines to market? After the COVID challenges, this next vaccine has enormous potential to help people. But in healthcare nothing sells itself.
A team from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth won the event and the team from University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business finished a close second. Third place went to a team from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Honorable mentions went to teams from Boston University Questrom School of Business and University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
This was the 20th year of the event, making it one of the oldest and most recognized case competitions in the world.
Congratulations to all the teams that made it to the final round: Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, McMaster University DeGroote School of Business, SDA Bocconi University, UCLA Anderson School of Management and Columbia University Business School.
The winning team from Dartmouth Tuck: Leslie Akplah, Hanz Mangan Antony, Xinzhe Fang, Caitlyn Garland, Marie Smoak and Xiangyu Zhao.
The second place team Michigan Ross: Matthew Friedland, Jason Herzfeld, Denny Lai, Arushi Mahajan, Karthik Ramasubramanian
Wharton Team Wins 2022 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition
In the case competition this year, teams had to analyze the launch of two cholesterol lowering medications: Repatha and Praluent. Wharton team won the top prize, second place was a Kellogg team, with the Tuck team placing third place. Moderna sponsored the competition.
First Place: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Shubham Chatterjee, Lauren Gardanier, Zaid Malhees, David Mui, Shang Wang
Second Place: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Abbey Austin, John Kim, Swarun Kulasekaran, Forrest Yeakley, Rachel Yen
Third Place: Tuck School of Business
Nathan Busam, Joanna Weng, Sherry Yang
Chicago Booth Team Wins 2021 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition
The 18th annual Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition focused on an emerging issue: how can business leaders build COVID19 vaccination rates in a world with anti-vaxxers and vaccine hesitancy? Teams evaluated the issue and developed plans to address it.
This year’s competition featured a new three round structure. In round 1, teams applied to the competition. Twenty teams then advanced to round 2, where they were asked to develop video presentations. A panel of judges then selected four teams to move on to the live, final round held on Zoom on January 30.
More than eighty teams applied to event. Sixteen schools were represented in the second round, including Duke-Fuqua, Maryland-Smith, Berkeley-Haas, HBS, Wharton, LBS and UT-McCombs.
In the end, a team from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business took home the top prize. Second place went to a team from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, with teams from DeGroote School of Business - McMaster University and Esade rounding out the Final Four.
It was a tough competition! More than 150 people tuned in to watch the final round. The teams came up with impressive and creative ideas.
Special thanks to our sponsor Astellas Pharma US and our incredible judges: Shaon Ahsan, Dr. Georges Benjamin, Julie Fitzgerald, Barry Fleischer, Marty Golden, Asavari Gupte, Eric Johnson, Sally Kolta, Emily Mason, Michael McGrath, Lisa Nicoll, Sasha Preble, Britt Prescott, Nico Rivelis, Mike Senical, Dr. Mona Siddiqui, Jonas de Souza, Steve Steinhagen and Natalie Wu.
Congratulations to the winning team: Rachel Wallace, Danny Stakland, Swan Lee, Kyle Birmingham, CFA and Jennifer Antane.
Congratulations also to the second place team: Adriana González-Caballero, David Angarita, Mark Brahier, Ted Cho and Kavya Sankhavaram.
Texas McCombs Wins 2020 Case Competition
A team from McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin won the 2020 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition. Congratulations to Caroline Green, Amit Rao, Hannah Rosenthal, Praveen Satarasinghe and Emily Nguyen Steemers. A team from University of Michigan Ross School of Business took second place, with a team from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business in third.Competition was particularly tough this year. More than 55 teams applied for the event and 11 presented in the finals in Evanston. Special thanks to Astellas Pharma US for sponsoring this year's event.
This year’s case focused on Palforzia, a new treatment for peanut allergy coming to market in 2020 from Aimmune Therapeutics. Teams had to evaluate the potential of the new therapy and provide an investment recommendation.
A terrific team of judges evaluated the presentations, including Mike Senical, Marty Golden and Nico Rivelis from Astellas, Jonas de Souza from Humana, Barry Fleischer from Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Sally Kolta from Eli Lilly, Sasha Preble from Optum and Julie Fitzgerald from Abbvie.
Johns Hopkins Team Wins 2019 Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition
On January 26, eleven teams of graduate students gathered in Evanston for the final round of the Kellogg Biotech + Healthcare Case Competition, sponsored by Astellas. At the end of the day, a team from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School took home the top prize and a check for $5,000.This year the competition was particularly intense. Sixty teams applied for the event, and eleven were invited to the final round.
Each year, the case competition focuses on a different healthcare related topic. This year’s question addressed a timely issue: how should the pharmaceutical industry improve its reputation? Not long ago, pharmaceutical firms were widely respected and admired. Today, the situation is very different; many people have very negative perceptions of the industry. Teams considered whether these negative perceptions were a problem and provided ideas on what to do. Industry association PhRMA participated in the event and the ideas generated for the competition will perhaps be used in the coming months.
The winning team from Johns Hopkins had intriguing recommendations and presented the ideas in a credible, logical fashion. Congratulations go to Jessica Joseph, Taylor Cottle, Elizabeth Phelan and Jenna Fritz.
A team from University of Texas McCombs School of Business did a stylish presentation and finished second. Congratulations go to Emma Blumstein, Gaurav Singh, Sabah Akbani, Taylor Dilbeck and Anish Patel.
Third place went to a team from Kellogg, and the judges awarded honorable mention to a team from UCLA Anderson.
Teams from ten different schools took part in the event: Harvard, Texas McCombs, CEIBS, Kellogg, SDA Bocconi, UCLA Anderson, Johns Hopkins Carey, Chicago Booth, UCLA Anderson and Berkeley Haas.
