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A team of graduate students from the Whitman School of Management earned first place in the Fall 2025 Fleming Center Case Competition, a national event hosted virtually by UTHealth Houston on Nov. 22. The Whitman group topped 12 teams from 10 universities, many of them based in Texas and competing from programs in medicine, public health and healthcare administration.

The winning team included Allison Hellman G’26 (MBA), G’26 (biotechnology, College of Arts and Sciences); Alexandra Perry ’25 (A&S), G’26 (MBA), G’26 (biotechnology, A&S); Zhen Shi G’26 (MBA);  Xiaoying Feng G’20, G’27 (marketing) and Celso Perez Mayo ’25, G’27 (business analytics).

Developing a Pilot Program

For nearly a month, the team analyzed public hospital data in Texas and developed a pilot program aimed at stabilizing rural health systems facing growing financial strain.

Their project, the Wellness and Health Insight Model, or WHIM, proposes a coordinated approach to reducing preventable emergency room visits and uncompensated care across the Southeast Coastal Corridor. The plan combines telehealth, patient engagement tools and a shared data infrastructure. The team projects that the initiative, supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration, could save $8.48 million for hospitals in Matagorda and Wharton counties in southeast Texas should they choose to adopt the model. The judges noted that they plan to draw on the team’s ideas in their own communities and professional contexts as well.

The group worked to ensure that WHIM was not only innovative but also grounded in practical hospital realities. “We designed a model that works within real hospital constraints, with realistic financials and sustainable operations from year one,” Hellman says.

A Broad Range of Perspectives

The students were familiar with case competition formats, but this challenge required a broader range of perspectives. Hellman and Shi had recently won Whitman’s Graduate Case Competition, yet they knew they needed additional clinical, analytical and behavioral science expertise. They expanded their team to include Perry, who has a clinical and nursing background; Feng, whose doctoral research informed patient incentive design; and Perez Mayo, who managed the technical and data integration components.

“Participating in this case competition was an incredible experience that pushed us to think creatively and collaboratively about one of the most complex challenges in rural health care. This achievement reflects the dedication and diverse expertise each team member brought to the table,” Perry says.

Collaboration Results in Success

That collaborative dynamic became even more important as the project developed. “This competition embodied Whitman’s collaborative networks and pushed me into clinical protocols, hospital finance and community barriers I had never encountered, and learning from my teammates became essential to the final design,” says Feng.

The team had to rely on one another to navigate the complex, interconnected challenges of the case. Health care is a field where medicine, patient psychology and business strategy overlap in ways few industries do.

“Our team is intentionally diverse. Each of us brings different backgrounds and experiences, which helped us examine the problem from multiple perspectives. We defined our roles quickly and worked as one unit. This was never a one-person effort, but a true collaborative build,” Shi says.

Jason Boock, assistant professor of biotechnology and the team’s advisor, says the students showed strong communication, teamwork and critical analysis throughout the project. “Authentic case competitions give students a chance to demonstrate how their ideas can make real-world impact, and this team delivered with a working app, a detailed assessment and a plan that reflected a deep understanding of the needs of Texas communities,” he says.

On competition day, the team presented first in the preliminary round and then waited for hours as judges deliberated. “It was nerve-wracking. We did not see other presentations, so we had no idea how we would rank,” Perez Mayo says.

The wait was well worth it for the Whitman team. The panel ultimately named ������ the first-place team. Along with a $1,500 prize, the students earned a featured appearance on , a nationally recognized health care management program hosted by Dr. Ginger Raya. The episode will air in early January on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and iHeartRadio.

Story by Bo Benyehuda