Contact: Allison Matthews
Photo by: Megan Bean
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A team of three Mississippi State University presidential scholars is advancing to state-level competition in a quest to solve some of the state's most pressing problems and reach the goals established by Blueprint Mississippi.
The Blueprint Mississippi Social Business Challenge was held at MSU recently as part of the S3 Innovation Challenge. The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning-sponsored competition asked students to focus their efforts in support of one of the nine goals identified by Blueprint Mississippi, an independent cooperative of organizations and leaders which evaluated the state's economic opportunities in 2012.
Students Jamie A. Aron, a senior political science and mathematics major from Flowood, John D. "Jack" Bryan, a sophomore economics and political science major from Starkville, and Sally J. White, a junior microbiology and biological sciences major from Coffeeville, Alabama, took the first-place award during the campus competition. Their business plan aims to connect Mississippians with affordable health-care services during non-regular business hours.
The team presented their findings that Mississippi has insufficient access to health care and medical professionals on nights and weekends, which leads patients to use emergency departments after regular clinic hours for conditions that are treatable at primary care facilities.
The students said utilizing existing resources with an innovative business plan could improve access to health care across the state and save millions of dollars by avoiding unnecessary visits to emergency facilities.
Blueprint Mississippi identified nine goals to help Mississippi position for a more prosperous, vibrant and resilient future. One of the goals set forth by Blueprint is to promote health care as an economic driver in the state.
Bryan, son of Pat and Laura Bryan and a Louis Hurst Presidential Scholar, learned of the Blueprint Social Business Challenge through his work as an undergraduate research assistant in MSU's Social Science Research Center with the Family and Children Research Unit.
Bryan said the state's health statistics he has observed tend to be unanimously negative.
"There is so much room for improvement and potential for success if Mississippians will simply dedicate to challenging the status quo," Bryan said. "This can lead to healthier people, greater savings, and improved quality of life."
Bryan explained that his team's proposed business plan will use existing telehealth technologies to increase access to medical professionals while decreasing overall spending on after-hours medical visits.
"It is easy to see that telehealth will quickly become more prevalent throughout the country. Mississippi can either be at the forefront now or play catch-up down the road," he said.
Aron, the daughter of James Aron and Sandra Gilmer and a John and Renée Grisham Presidential Scholar, said she and her business teammates have a special bond through their shared scholarship program which led to their collaboration on this project.
"Members of this program usually rely on one another for feedback, input and advice," Aron said. "Once Jack proposed the idea, I immediately jumped on board. Then, I pulled Sally into the mix as well," she said, explaining that their various interest areas and expertise are complementary.
"Jack studies economics, so he understands the financial drivers. Sally is a microbiology major pursuing a career in public health, so she brings the overall health care system aspect to the table, and I study political science, so I am keenly aware of the need and the processes of addressing concerns of the public," Aron said.
White, who has conducted research on enteric infections, said she has long been interested in public health issues, but the Blueprint Social Business Challenge has given her a whole new way of looking at health care. The daughter of Michael and Debra White, she is a Hal and Linda Parker Presidential Scholar.
"Though I normally tackle this problem through my bench top research, the Blueprint Social Business Challenge has enabled me to attack this issue from a different angle that I never expected. Our business model utilizes pre-existing technology in a creative way to solve our state's healthcare challenges," White said.
With guidance from the College of Business's Entrepreneurship Center, the team will prepare for the next phase of IHL's competition to take place March 12, 2015 in Jackson in conjunction with Universities Day at the Capitol. There, they will present to a new panel of judges who also will hear talks by winning teams from the state's other institutions of higher learning.
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