UTA students earn honors at HOSA State Leadership Conference

Wednesday, Apr 08, 2026 • Greg Pederson :

Eleven members of the HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) student organization at The University of Texas at Arlington placed in competitions at the HOSA 2026 State Leadership Conference, held March 24-26 in Corpus Christi.

On March 19 the HOSA at UTA chapter hosted its second Ethics Bowl, a debate-style contest featuring teams discussing scenarios in medical ethics. In addition to being a fun, friendly competition, the event also serves as excellent preparation for tests used in the health professional school application process.

At the state conference, eight of the 11 HOSA at UTA students placed first or second in their categories, earning trips to the 2026 HOSA International Leadership Conference, which will be held June 17–20 in Indianapolis. HOSA is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

HOSA is a national career and technical student organization that seeks to promote career opportunities in healthcare and to enhance the delivery of quality healthcare.

UTA students placing at the HOSA state conference:

• Shalom Kamara – 1st place in Medical Assisting
• Justin Le – 1st place in Pharmacy Science
• Brandon Duong, Joely King, Bao Phan, Ravi Raythattha – 1st place in the HOSA Bowl
• Kimberly Hernandez – 2nd place in Dental Terminology
• Roma Raythattha – 2nd place in Medical Assisting
• Luo Yi Ding – 5th place in Medical Terminology
• Brayden Brown – 7th place in Medical Math
• Amber Godette – 10th place in Medical Terminology

HOSA Bowl is a “medical Jeopardy” style game where teams compete to answer questions about the foundations of HOSA and medical knowledge.

“I was truly blown away at how our group performed,” said Ravi Raythattha, HOSA at UTA president. “This is the first year, as far as I know, that the HOSA chapter at UTA will be representing the university at the international level, and to be doing it on HOSA's 50-year anniversary just makes it so much more special. I am incredibly grateful to help lead such a talented group of future health care professionals and I cannot wait to see how we perform in the summer and in the future.”

Raythattha also thanked fellow HOSA chapter officers Brandon Duong, Hannah Hill, Roma Raythattha, Kimberly Hernandez, and Vaidehi Gandhe, as well as the chapter’s faculty advisor Dylan Parks, associate professor of instruction in biology.

“Advancing to the state competition was an incredible experience, and I'm so proud not only of myself but of my entire team for all the hard work and dedication we put in,” Kimberly Hernandez said. “I'm grateful for the chance to apply what I've learned, challenge myself, and meet such inspiring people along the way. It's an experience I would absolutely do all over again.”

"This year's HOSA State Leadership Conference was an amazing opportunity to not only practice my pharmacy skills but go out of my comfort zone,” said Justin Le. “The connections you make through HOSA, the people you meet and joke with, that's what made this event special.”

Ethics Bowl

HOSA’s second UTA Ethics Bowl was held in the Central Library 6th floor atrium. The event featured eight teams of students presenting their responses to a series of real-world medical ethics scenarios relevant to medical school and healthcare training. The responding team then answered questions from the opposing team and from a panel of judges.

“The Ethics Bowl is meant to challenge students to think critically about real-world ethical scenarios, and I truly believe it accomplished that while also creating a fun, engaging, and game-like atmosphere for our competitors,” Raythattha said. “There was a lot of positive feedback during and after the event, and I can't wait to see how we can take this to the next level in the following years!”

Dr. Steven Gellman, College of Science pre-med consultant and professor of practice in philosophy and humanities, helped to create the event and said it was planned in coordination with HOSA and combined the efforts of the College of Science with the experiential learning team at the UTA Library.

“Students mentioned how valuable the Ethics Bowl was in learning about ethical scenarios and approaching real-life medically related quandaries,” Gellman said. “Competitors commented on how well this event will prepare them for the MMI (Multiple Mini Interviews) and the Casper test. These are screening tools now being used as part of the holistic admissions process at many health professions graduate programs.”

The top three teams included:

• First place — (Diagnosis Divas) Marcella Ferreira Da Silva, Shreeya Nagarajan, Katie Rowley, Anay Sigala
• Second place — (Clinical Theorists) Jerome Dales, Shashiska K.C., Ivan Ramirez, Inosha Upadhyay
• Third place — (Future Physicians of Tomorrow) Mustafa Alazawe, Nathaly Leija, Rasheed Musleh, Aksa Saju

Chloé Bennett, UTA experiential learning librarian, served as emcee for the event. Faculty judges included Piya Ghose, assistant professor of biology; Robert Holtz, staff physician, UTA Health Services; Shawn House, senior lecturer in philosophy and humanities; and Laura Phipps, clinical assistant professor in kinesiology.

 

First-place winners at the UTA Ethics Bowl include Anay Sigala, Katie Rowley, Marcella Ferreira Da Silva, and (not pictured) Shreeya Nagarajan.

 

Second-place winners at the UTA Ethics Bowl include Shashiska K.C., Ivan Ramirez, Jerome Dales, and Inosha Upadhyay.

 

Third-place winners at the UTA Ethics Bowl include Mustafa Alazawe, Aksa Saju, Nathaly Leija, and Rasheed Musleh.

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