UW News

Health and medicine


February 15, 2013

Firing range lead exposure reduced with UW workplace health expertise

UW’s Field Research and Consultation Group in Environmental and Occupational Health assess ventilation systems and airborne lead levels in firing ranges, and offer advice on lowering exposure.


February 8, 2013

UW School of Nursing re-envisions Doctor of Nursing Practice curriculum

DNP student 2 cropped

The initiative builds on the school’s national distinction in preparing students for careers in community health; critical care; psychiatric/mental health; pediatric, adult, geriatric and family nursing, and nurse-midwifery.


February 6, 2013

New director named for Northwest Center for Public Health Practice

Pediatrician Tao Kwan-Gett will head a center that provides training, research, evaluation and communication services to public health organizations across six states.


February 1, 2013

School of Dentistry launches Center for Global Oral Health

Dental tools on board the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The new center will promote collaborations in dental research and education, including faculty and student exchanges, with partners around the world.


January 29, 2013

Beer’s bitter compounds could help brew new medicines

A humulone molecule is superimposed on a hops vine and a glass of beer.

A UW researcher has determined the precise configuration of substances derived from hops that give beer its distinctive flavor, a finding that could lead to important new pharmaceuticals.


January 17, 2013

Early signals warn of prolonged sports concussion symptoms

A play from the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl.

Researchers found little correlation between loss of consciousness and duration of concussion symptoms.


January 16, 2013

High school athletes take lead from coaches in reporting concussive symptoms

New laws in many states require school athletes to be taught about concussion, but education alone is ineffective if it does not translate into students reporting possible symptoms.


January 10, 2013

Multiple sclerosis study reveals how killer T cells learn to recognize nerve fiber insulators

Misguided killer T cells may be the missing link in sustained tissue damage in the brains and spines of people with multiple sclerosis, research in immunologist Joan Goverman’s lab suggests.


January 7, 2013

University of Washington selects Azita Emami as dean of School of Nursing

Headshot of Azita Emami

Azita Emami, dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University, will be the new dean of the UW School of Nursing.


December 31, 2012

Study shows naloxone kits cost-effective in preventing overdose deaths

Giving heroin users kits with the overdose antidote naloxone can help save lives. Efforts are under way to make similar kits available for prescription opioid users.


December 28, 2012

Surgery establishes penile sensation in men with spina bifida

The new procedure may improve the quality of life for men with spinal cord lesions or injuries.


December 27, 2012

Academic medicine has major economic impact on the state and the nation

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that its member medical schools and teaching hospitals had a combined economic impact of more than $587 billion in the United States in 2011


December 26, 2012

For New Year’s resolutions to stick, plan ahead

List of resolutions

This year, for sure, you will lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, learn a new language, get a better job, and travel to exotic lands. And of course you’re going to eat better, stress less and create (and stick to) a household budget – all while spending more time with the family. It’s gonna happen!…


December 24, 2012

Dentistry sculpture winners named

Wire, rubber bands and dental acrylics are fashioned into sculptures for the annual Department of Orthodontics contest.


December 21, 2012

Training Xchange puts UW research advances into practitioners’ hands

The UW is expanding its Training Xchange initiative to help researchers transmit innovations in healthcare and other fields to professionals locally and beyond the Northwest.


December 20, 2012

Mild brain cooling after head injury prevents epileptic seizures in lab study

EEG superimposed over images of a brain.

Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and at present there is no treatment to prevent or cure it.


December 18, 2012

Delta Dental/Washington Dental Service gives $1.15 million to transform education of dentists

Dec. 14 Dentistry Retreat 2012

Under new dean Dr. Joel Berg the school has launched a plan to revamp its clinical education and curriculum.


December 17, 2012

Aging, end-of-life expert offers advice for coping with holiday blues

A sorrowing old man in the painting "At Eternity's Gate" by Vincent van Gogh.

The holidays can be a time of sadness and loneliness, and UW’s Wendy Lustbader has advice on how to deal with these issues.


December 14, 2012

U-Village’s glassybaby assists UW Medical Center cancer patients

Art business owner created White Light Fund to defray incidental costs, like car fare, for people receiving cancer treatment.


December 13, 2012

Dark Ages scourge enlightens modern struggle between man and microbes

Discoveries reported today help explain how the stealthy agent of Black Death avoids tripping a self-destruct mechanism inside germ-destroying cells.


December 12, 2012

Intracranial pressure monitoring for traumatic brain injury questioned

Researchers in United States and Latin America re-examine standard of care for severe head injury.


December 6, 2012

Tipsy? UW expert’s tips for reining in holiday drinking

A snifter of port wine.

The omnipresence of alcohol at holiday gatherings and the social ease that a little buzz provides make it hard to limit ourselves. UW’s Dennis Donovan offers advice for how to drink moderately, and treatment approaches he’s used with people recovering from alcohol problems.


November 30, 2012

Electrically spun fabric offers dual defense against pregnancy, HIV

Magnified image of fibers and sperm

Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers show promise as a cheap, versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. New funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will further test the system’s versatility and feasibility.


November 29, 2012

Rules devised for building ideal protein molecules from scratch

These principles could allow scientists to custom-make, rather than re-purpose, protein molecules for vaccines, drugs, and industrial and environmental uses.


November 28, 2012

Harmful protein-coding mutations in people arose largely in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years

Joshua Akey.

The spectrum of human genetic diversity today is vastly different than what it was only 200 to 400 generations ago.


UW to host Institute of Medicine regional meeting Dec. 6

Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine is holding a regional meeting in Seattle Dec. 6.


November 19, 2012

Mutations in genes that modify DNA packaging result in form of muscular dystrophy

Studying the molecular basis of progressive muscle weakness may lead to therapies to prevent or reduce symptoms.


November 16, 2012

Leadership award given to late Pharmacy Dean Emeritus Sid Nelson

Nelson, and several other School of Pharmacy alumni, were honored for their contributions to their profession, their patients and their community at large.


November 8, 2012

Extra chromosome 21 removed from Down syndrome cell line

The approach could lead to cell therapy treatments for some of the blood-forming disorders that accompany the common genetic condition.


Pamela Mitchell receives American Heart Association’s highest nursing award

Mitchell, honored for her work with stroke survivors, is involved in improving the lives of cardiovascular disease patients who have depression.


November 2, 2012

Treating Doris: Health sciences students practice team-based clinical problem solving

A training event prepared 450 health sciences students for interprofessional teamwork and reminded them they aren’t alone in making tough clinical decisions.


October 29, 2012

Early autism intervention improves brain responses to social cues

child in experiment wears electrodes on head

An autism intervention program that emphasizes social interactions improves cognitive skills and brain responses to faces, the first demonstration that an intensive behavioral intervention can change brain function in toddlers with autism.


October 18, 2012

2012 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Brian Kobilka will speak at UW Oct. 23

The Stanford University faculty member will talk about a group of cell membrane receptors that are crucial for emotion, behavior, memory, vision, motion and many other activities. About 40 percent of medications act via these receptors.


October 15, 2012

Three School of Public Health faculty members elected to Institute of Medicine

The new UW members have worked in many fields, including pharmaceutical outcomes research, cancer prevention, biostatstics, global health, and emergency preparedness.


October 4, 2012

Misconduct is a major factor in retracted research

A graph depicting retracted research papers.

New UW research shows that 2,047 research papers that have been retracted since 1977, misconduct—blatantly falsified data or data manipulation— was the cause in 41 percent of the cases.


October 2, 2012

Sticky paper offers cheap, easy solution for paper-based diagnostics

Fluorescent image of a Husky

Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper — a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.


September 28, 2012

Duplex-sequencing method could lead to better cancer detection and treatment

Some of the members of the Loeb lab who worked on the duplex sequencing: Dr. Lawrence Loeb, Dr. Scott Kennedy, Dr. Michael Schmitt, and Dr. Jesse Salk.

Two young UW researchers sought to reduce the error rate in DNA sequencing to better pinpoint cells that are mutating.


September 27, 2012

Dynamics of DNA packaging helps regulate heart formation

Findings suggest new ways to study controls of early human development, causes of birth defects, and regeneration of damaged tissue.


September 25, 2012

UW community invited to tour Montlake Tower

Montlake Tower, which overlooks Portage Bay, has distinctive architectural, technological and environmental elements.


September 20, 2012

Low income linked to poorer health in both U.S. and England, despite different health systems

Although the English are generally healthier than Americans, both countries grapple with large health inequalities. A new study suggests that in both countries, health and wealth are tightly linked. The study, published online Sept. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health, links income level with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and other health conditions….



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