TRP Students Take Over GMCA’s Case Competition Featuring: Alexander Moore and Siobhan Wilson

TRP | August 2022

TRP Students break ground to win top spots at GMCA’s Case Competition, Healthcare: Accelerating Accessibility

The Graduate Management Consulting Association at the University of Toronto held their 11-day case competition, Healthcare: Accelerating Accessibility in April 2022 for students interested in developing and applying their problem-solving skills to tackle real-life business challenges. In this competition, participants had the opportunity to:

(1) Develop their consulting skills and gain transferrable industry experience,

(2) Learn from judges who have successfully transitioned into the industry,

(3) Tackle real-life business challenges, and

(4) Present their recommended strategies to judges from our partnering firms.

We spoke to a few members of TRP’s winning teams about their experience at this competition and key takeaways. Learn more about Alexander Moore, Dhekra Al-Basha (Neuroscience Department UofT), Siobhan Wilson, and Evgeny Osokin’s (Dentistry Department UofT) teamwork, with particular focus on, Alex and Siobhan’s learnings.

Alexander Moore

I joined the TRP after working for more than a decade in finance, looking to dip my toes into new experiences and a program that would get me thinking differently and challenge me. The GMCA program and competition was a great chance to use the skills that I’d brought to the table from the financial sector, and those that I’ve gained from my work in the TRP.

Our GMCA case group was phenomenal – bringing experience from multiple sectors and industries, we were able to merge our skills and competencies together to break a massive problem up into the type of meaningful goals and challenges that the large company at the centre of the case competition might face. No mistake, it was a crunch working through the research and outreach required to generate meaningful answers and then regrouping to turn it into a cohesive story, but the work and the effort that we threw into this project made our final product something we were all really proud of. We were so excited when we were called to present and we were all cheering when we were announced as the winners.

In the future I plan to take the unique lessons and translational framework from the TRP and apply it to real-world problems so I can really help people and make lives better. The financial industries are changing fast, and considerations surrounding health and healthcare are a huge part of that. Even outside my current field, we’re seeing massive, interdisciplinary changes in how health is approached – I’m particularly excited about the changing attitudes around how mental health is being considered and treated, and I hope to leverage what I’ve learned from the TRP to be a part of these changes.

Siobhan Wilson

I initially enrolled in the GMCA Business Fundamentals course to gain a broad understanding of various business concepts from industry professionals. I deeply enjoyed the GMCA Case Competition because I got the opportunity to seek out resources, develop a strategic plan, and apply what I learned to not only to the competition but to different projects, I am involved with and the start-up I currently work at.

I had the pleasure of working with an exceptionally dedicated team, each with our own unique areas of expertise that we were able to leverage throughout the GMCA Case Competition. In the week leading up to our final presentation, our team was in constant contact with each other. We were all excited to share resources, listen to and learn from each other, ask questions and provide clarification, and contribute to the creation of our final strategy. It was the collaborative effort of this team and our shared goal of putting together a meaningful and comprehensive solution to the problem in front of us that made this experience so special.

On the day of the competition as we were waiting to be called by the judges to present, the four of us spent our time getting to know each other more which calmed our nerves and set the stage for us to deliver our presentation better than we had practiced. I was so impressed by how seamlessly we were able to answer the judge’s questions and switch to the appropriate supplemental slides to support our answers. When we were announced as winners, I couldn’t stop smiling. We were all so excited and proud of the work we had done to get us as far as we did.

In the future, I plan to continue applying what I have learned from the Translational Research Program and the GMCA Case Competition to real-world problems throughout the course of my career in healthcare. The biggest takeaway I have from the Translational Research Program is that it provides students with a blueprint to get involved in the start-up and incubator space as a means of bringing an intervention from bench to bedside. I hope to incorporate what I have learned from the GMCA Case Competition into this key takeaway and continue learning and applying what I learn moving forward.

Congratulations to our students on securing podium positions at this GMCA competition. We couldn’t be prouder! Check out more stories from the GMCA Case Competition

TRP Students Take Over GMCA’s Case Competition

TRP Students Take Over GMCA’s Case Competition Featuring: Mary Schmitz