Weight Worries?
Realistic Student Competition Will Address Houston’s Obesity Concerns
WHAT: |
The Health Care Team Competition, an interdisciplinary competition featuring students from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and The University of Houston. The first 60 attendees will receive a special fitness-oriented gift. |
WHEN: |
5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, 2006 |
WHERE: |
Room 3.001 in the UT Medical School Building, 6431 Fannin St. Free parking available in the University of Texas Professional Building, 6410 Fannin St. Parking tickets will be validated at the event. |
HOUSTON – (April 4, 2006)–Houston’s ongoing “battle of the bulge” will be the topic of the 2006 Health Care Team Competition, an annual contest between teams composed of both University of Houston and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston students.
The teams have been working for more than a month to formulate a plan to address the Houston area’s weight worries. They will present their plans on April 11 during the final round of the competition, which is free and open to the public.
“The faculty planning committee, which formulates the cases the students work on, decided that Houston’s obesity epidemic would make an excellent topic,” said Linda Brannon, associate vice president of academic affairs at the UT Health Science Center and chair of the faculty planning committee. “We are faced with so many challenges when it comes to controlling our weight – and this is something Americans as a whole will be dealing with in the coming decades – so it makes sense that these students should research the problem and be thinking about ways to combat it before they even enter the professional world.”
The teams include students studying health law, medicine, dentistry, social work, nursing, public health, pharmacy, health information, and the biomedical sciences. Each is expected to contribute their own expertise toward formulating their teams’ plan. This year, the challenge is to create a citywide health and fitness plan, working within a budget and using realistic goals and strategies.
“Year after year, the students who participate in this competition say that it made them appreciate and understand the other fields of study more, and in turn made them better at their jobs once they entered the professional world,” said Brannon. “Through this competition, we are enhancing students’ knowledge about other health-oriented fields, and helping them learn the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to health care.”
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