Title:Breathe Easy proposal wins award at 2025 DC Public Health Case Challenge

Talia Korobkin (M’28) is a rising third-year medical student, but she was intrigued when she saw the invitation to compete in the annual DC Public Health Case Challenge sponsored by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The 2025 case focused on identifying practical, affordable, sustainable approaches to strengthening health resilience for chronic diseases in DC residents.

Korobkin was accepted and placed on a Georgetown team with Harnoor Sachar (SFS’26) and Shivali Vora (SFS’26), two seniors from the School of Foreign Service, and Omar Anwar (C’26), a senior biology major from the College of Arts & Sciences. Coming from very different parts of the university, they brought diverse interests, perspectives, and backgrounds to the effort.

They worked together to produce Breathe Easy: Improving Air Quality, Respiratory Health and Environmental Justice in Washington, DC, ultimately winning the Harrison C. Spencer Interprofessional Prize.

“One of the coolest things about this project is that you are required to put together a team of three to six students representing at least three disciplines,” says first-time team advisor Leticia Bode, professor of Communication, Culture & Technology, and inaugural research director of the Knight-Georgetown Institute. “This mix of students really sets apart this competition and is a great fit for Georgetown. We have a long and storied history of building interdisciplinary programs. This project fits very well into our mission which encourages conversations across differences.”

Bode describes the rigorous process the team had to follow: “The team has to agree on a data-based project that has the potential to improve health care in the District, engage the community, define their process and outcomes, and submit their project using a hypothetical budget that NAM provides. If that concept is accepted, they have two weeks to finalize the proposal before presenting it to the very prestigious academy. It’s a very short time frame that encourages communication coordination and teamwork.”

“That time frame was really challenging,” says Korobkin. “When you submit your concept, you meet with the NAM judges and you aren’t allowed to tell them what school you are from. The project has to stand totally on its own. They ask really tough, unpredictable questions. My heart was pounding.”

Breathe Easy has a three-year implementation period, and includes initiatives in 20 elementary schools and 10 senior living centers in Wards 7 and 8, as well as support for existing community programs that promote the creation and preservation of green space.