Baker Institute hosts policy conference

By Jieya Wen     9/23/13 7:00pm

The Baker Institute Student Forum hosted its inaugural undergraduate public policy conference Sept. 21 in James A. Baker III Hall where it presented awards for its first annual undergraduate public policy competition.

According to Rohini Sigireddi, one of BISF's research committee chairs, the topic of the competition was "Health Care Policy in the United States." Participants submitted a 25-page paper on this topic in July and presented their policy proposals at the conference before a panel of judges.

"We started planning this competition one year ago because all of us were really passionate about public policy, and we wanted to make Rice the center for health care policy studies," Sigireddi, a Wiess College senior, said.

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The event started with a keynote speech by C.J. Peters, who is the University of Texas Medical Branch director for biodefense as well as the John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Tropical and Emerging Virology. Peters addressed the importance and current situation of the study of health care policy.

"I think research is important," Peters said. "It is the new way to approach the problems, and it is also a training, a good way to teach young people .... We have lots of opportunities, and lots of things can be done and need to be done .... If there is major infectious disease, we need people who understand the structures and can hold people together."

According to Sigireddi, 15 teams from 12 universities and colleges were on the list of finalists chosen out of 27 total participants; some teams were comprised of members from different universities. Six of the finalist teams were from Rice University. Wiess College junior James Dargan and Patrick Perkowski, a student at the City University of New York's Queens College, tied for first place. Martel College junior Cristina Saez and Hanszen College junior Andre Critsinelis won second place.

Dargan said his plan focused on the misuse of narcotic painkillers and aimed to reduce their harmful use. He said he suggested a buyback system to stop the circulation of the pills from the beginning.

"The buyback system is to include monetary compensation that encourages the patients to return the unused prescription back to the pharmacy," Dargan said. "My plan includes amnesty, and it allows people to get immediate access to help if they overdose."

Saez said the competition provided a wonderful learning experience and a good opportunity to practice what she learned in class.

"My partner has an economics background, and I have a public health background," Saez said. "At the end of the competition, I knew more about economics and policy studies. I was studying the National Health [Service] in the U.K. before, and this competition helped me to bring what I learned there to the U.S. system. Also, it [was] a good chance to collaborate with other people."

An awards presentation and a poster presentation by the competition finalists followed the keynote speech. The event ended with closing remarks by BISF President Daniel Cohen. 

Cohen said he was excited to continue the competition in the following years and use the same model to expand it to include graduate students. He said he also hopes to encourage students from all backgrounds to participate in policy studies.

"People may think that public policy is only for political science and economics students," Cohen, a Lovett College senior, said. "But I don't think that's true at all. Our competitors come from all over, in terms of schools, academic fields. No matter who you are and where you are from, public policy is intimately connected with what you care about. The more we contribute to that now, the better off the world will be."

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