Population Health
December 3, 2021
Hans Rosling Center wins state, national architectural design and project awards
The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health has won top awards in 2021 from state and national design and construction associations for both its architectural design and unique project delivery approach. The building was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership and the general contractor was Lease Crutcher Lewis. The Design Build Institute of America in…
November 17, 2021
A chatbot can help doctors better understand incoming emergency department patients’ social needs
A team led by the UW developed a chatbot that could ask emergency department visitors about social needs, including housing, food, access to medical care and physical safety.
November 11, 2021
Deforestation, climate change linked to more worker deaths and unsafe conditions
Outdoor workers in the world’s lower-latitude tropical forests may face a greater risk of heat-related deaths and unsafe working conditions because of deforestation and climate warming, according to a study led by The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington and Indonesia’s Mulawarman University. In the study, researchers found that increased temperatures of 0.95 C (1.7…
October 28, 2021
Countermarketing based on anti-smoking campaigns reduces buying of sugary ‘fruit’ drinks for children
Public health messages such as in the image below — designed to reduce parents’ purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages marketed as fruit drinks for children — convinced a significant percentage of parents to avoid those drinks, according to a study by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania. The UW-led study set…
October 25, 2021
‘Self-care and resilience’ — UW’s Elaine Walsh discusses burnout among nurses
The pandemic has left nurses around the country feeling burned out. Their top four feelings, according to a recent survey? Exhausted, overwhelmed, irritable and anxious or unable to relax. UW News spoke with Elaine Walsh, a UW School of Nursing associate professor and a Nurse Scientist in Resiliency at Seattle Children’s Hospital, to learn more about the…
October 5, 2021
UW joins USAID’s $125M project to detect emerging viruses with pandemic potential
To better identify and prevent future pandemics, the University of Washington has become a partner in a five-year global, collaborative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The newly launched Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses, or DEEP VZN project, has approximately $125 million in anticipated funding and will be led…
October 1, 2021
UW study provides rare window into work life of app-based drivers during pandemic
When you get into the car of the app-based driver you just tapped up on your phone, you expect and hope the driver and the car are safe and capable of getting you where you need to go. Apps rate drivers, which you can see. But what if the driver is sick? What if the…
September 28, 2021
Alzheimer’s data center at UW awarded $35 million to continue mission of free, global access
For researchers around the world working to understand and treat Alzheimer’s and eventually find a cure, data from clinical exams of patients suffering from this complex neurodegenerative disease needs to be standardized and accessible. Since 1999, that’s what the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), housed in the UW School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology,…
September 14, 2021
Study examines teens’ thoughts, plans around suicide
New research by the University of Washington and New York University explored gender, racial and ethnic differences among teens who think about and/or attempt suicide, as well as associated behavioral and environmental factors.
September 7, 2021
Research, education hub on ‘coastal resiliency’ will focus on earthquakes, coastal erosion and climate change
The new Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub, led by Oregon State University and the University of Washington, will study coastal hazards and community resilience. The National Science Foundation awarded $18.9 million for the hub over five years.
August 20, 2021
With extreme heat increasingly common, UW expert calls for urgent planning to protect health in new Lancet series
In a new series on increasingly common extreme heat waves and their impact on human health published Thursday in the British medical journal The Lancet, a University of Washington climate change and health expert joined more than a dozen international experts to warn that we better prepare. “The preventable heat stress and deaths during this summer’s…
August 19, 2021
Youth mental health during the pandemic better with more sleep, structure and time in nature
A study led by Harvard and the University of Washington surveyed children, teens and their families about the stresses of the pandemic, and ways to cope.
August 16, 2021
New analysis of landmark scurvy study leads to update on vitamin C needs
It was wartime and food was scarce. Leaders of England’s effort to wage war and help the public survive during World War II needed to know: Were the rations in lifeboats adequate for survival at sea? And, among several experiments important for public as well as military heath, how much vitamin C did a person…
August 4, 2021
Fine particulate air pollution associated with higher risk of dementia
Using data from two large, long-running study projects in the Puget Sound region — one that began in the late 1970s measuring air pollution and another on risk factors for dementia that began in 1994 — University of Washington researchers identified a link between air pollution and dementia. In the UW-led study, a small increase…
July 30, 2021
Food insecurity remains high and need for assistance dramatically up in Washington
Washington residents continue to experience a dramatically higher level of food insecurity — from 10% before the COVID-19 pandemic to 27%, according to the latest University of Washington and Washington State University research on food insecurity and food assistance in the state. The study team also found that need for food assistance has continued to…
July 16, 2021
20 UW researchers elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021
Twenty scientists and engineers at the University of Washington are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 announcement. New members were chosen for “their outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.”
June 15, 2021
Video: Mobile health van student volunteers collaborate in service to the community
This summer a UW mobile health outreach van will hit the road, bringing some basic health care services to people without housing who might have a hard time getting to a doctor’s office.
Drug rebates for insurers tied to higher costs for patients, especially the uninsured
Federal agencies that regulate drug pricing and healthcare insurance are concerned that an industry practice of using rebates to lower drug costs for insurers has led to increases in list prices and out-of-pockets costs for patients. To investigate whether patients with or without insurance were paying more because of rebates to insurers, researchers led by…
May 24, 2021
Fast food, supermarkets, other aspects of built environments don’t play expected role in weight gain
People don’t gain or lose weight because they live near a fast-food restaurant or supermarket, according to a new study led by the University of Washington. And, living in a more “walkable,” dense neighborhood likely only has a small impact on weight. These “built-environment” amenities have been seen in past research as essential contributors to…
May 17, 2021
UW’s Dr. Catherine Karr: ‘Major chronic health problems facing children today’ linked to air pollution
With evidence of the health hazards facing children from air pollution growing, The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday published a policy statement meant to bring those hazards to light and to encourage and direct policy to improve children’s health. Policy co-author Dr. Catherine Karr, a professor in the University of Washington’s School of Public…
May 14, 2021
$38M set of gifts from Ballmer Group to address behavioral health crisis aims to bolster workforce, resources across Washington through UW-led programs
The University of Washington today announced that the School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Behavioral Health Institute at Harborview Medical Center are part of a transformational $38 million set of gifts from Ballmer Group to support a broad, collaborative response to the state’s behavioral health crisis. The gifts aim to address the state of Washington’s serious workforce shortage in the community behavioral health system, in large part by supporting statewide education and training innovations at partner institutions developed through the University of Washington.
May 3, 2021
Dean Azita Emami’s ‘insider–outsider’ perspective shapes her UW School of Nursing leadership
UW School of Nursing Dean Azita Emami’s commitment to fighting for those underserved by the health care system has deep roots in her identity. Born in Iran, she has been shaped by the experience of being an “insider–outsider.”
Earthquake early warnings launch in Washington, completing West Coast-wide ShakeAlert system
The U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Washington-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, and state emergency managers on Tuesday, May 4, will activate the system that sends earthquake early warnings throughout Washington state. This completes the rollout of ShakeAlert, an automated system that gives people living in Washington, Oregon and California advance warning of incoming earthquakes.
April 30, 2021
UW’s new Mobile Health & Outreach Van will serve community and student experience
Getting basic health care to medically underserved populations in Seattle, while providing real-world experience for students hoping to practice in a health care field, takes wheels. Now, through a student-led, interdisciplinary effort by health science departments at the University of Washington, those “wheels” — on the new UW Mobile Health & Outreach Van — are ready.
April 13, 2021
Vaccines debate: ‘Escape variants’ of the coronavirus are a serious future threat
With COVID-19 cases on the rise again in many parts of the country — including Washington state where three counties were pushed back to Phase 2 effective Friday — there’s a growing debate between continuing to give both doses of Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines close together, or giving them months apart in order to get…
March 19, 2021
‘A turning point’: UW Population Health Initiative’s pandemic grants changed how the university works
A year ago, seemingly overnight, streets emptied, shops boarded up, grocery shelves were cleared, schools closed and the University of Washington led universities nationwide in moving all instruction online. Nearly all of us disappeared inside, stunned and staring out at a world suddenly paralyzed by something we’d only seen in movies or read about in books:…
March 4, 2021
A year with COVID-19: A chronology of how the UW adapted — and responded — to the pandemic
On March 6, 2020, the University of Washington became the first university in the U.S. to announce a move to remote instruction and work in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Here’s a look back at the past year, from the perspectives of how the UW community adapted and the impact the…
Video: UW students join the front lines of the vaccination effort
By the end of February, around 350 UW students had signed up to be volunteer vaccinators in clinics from Tacoma to Marysville.
February 25, 2021
Q&A: Race, medicine and the future power of genetic ancestry
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine that they “do not believe that ignoring race will reduce health disparities” but rather that “such an approach is a form of naive ‘color blindness’ that is more likely to perpetuate and potentially exacerbate disparities,” five Black geneticists set out to explain the pitfalls of leaving race…
February 5, 2021
To counter health impacts of racism, UW School of Nursing establishing Center for Antiracism in Nursing
Systemic racism has for generations undermined the health of individuals and communities across America, a public health crisis that has made the pandemic even more deadly and destructive for people of color. Recognizing that nurses play a central role in and hold major responsibility for the health of individuals and communities hit hard by historic…
January 31, 2021
Bleeding gums may be a sign you need more vitamin C in your diet
Current advice from the American Dental Association tells you that if your gums bleed, make sure you are brushing and flossing twice a day because it could be a sign of gingivitis, an early stage of periodontal disease. And that might be true. So if you are concerned, see your dentist. However, a new University…
January 28, 2021
UW installs strikingly unique public sculpture at new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health
At nearly 7 feet tall, “The Seated IV” first graced the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s facade in September 2019 as part of a commission titled The NewOnes, will free Us. Four “Seated” sculptures by Wangechi Mutu were the first works to take up the positions on The Met’s facade since it was completed in 1902. On…
January 26, 2021
Anti-poverty policies can reduce reports of child neglect
A University of Washington study analyzes how a state’s refundable Earned Income Tax Credit can lead to fewer reports of child neglect, by reducing the financial stress on families.
January 8, 2021
COVID-19 vaccines are ‘remarkable achievement,’ but soothing mistrust is necessary to end pandemic
“Of course, we didn’t put Democrats in the vial; we didn’t put Republicans in the vial,” University of Washington’s Dr. Larry Corey writes in a recent COVID-19 Vaccine Matters blog jointly produced by Johns Hopkins University and the UW. While development of vaccines now being distributed to combat COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus, are…
December 28, 2020
In pandemic milestone, UW brings COVID-19 vaccines to frontline health care workers
The first scheduled to receive vaccinations were frontline personnel working with COVID-19 patients. In addition to patient-care staff in intensive care units, COVID acute care floors and emergency departments, the immediate list also included environmental services staff, as well as emergency medical responders in the community. Next in line are nursing home residents and their caregivers.
December 14, 2020
Highlights: UW, Johns Hopkins symposium on preserving scientific integrity in COVID-19 vaccine research
Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington brought together leading experts in October to explore these issues and put forward a concise plan for protecting the scientific integrity of these lifesaving efforts. Here’s a 4-minute highlight reel of the symposium.
December 8, 2020
Round 2 of Washington study underway to determine food, economic insecurity during pandemic
Understanding Washington residents’ access to food and their economic well-being – or lack of it – during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital for state and community partners to identify those needs and allocate resources effectively. To help accomplish this goal, the University of Washington, Washington State University and Tacoma Community College, along with input from…
Policies around pregnancy, birth during pandemic failing both patients and nurses
As an experienced nurse midwife, whose scientific research focuses on respectful and equitable care during pregnancy and childbirth, the University of Washington’s Molly Altman has been studying pregnancy and childbirth during the pandemic alongside colleagues across the UW and in affected communities. While her work is being distilled into formal studies that will be submitted…
December 2, 2020
COVID-19 vaccines may not prevent spread of virus, so mask-wearing, other protections still critical
Excitement and relief over news of vaccines that help prevent people from getting sick, winding up in the hospital or dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, are warranted, says University of Washington’s Dr. Larry Corey. But, these messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines may not prevent people from getting infected or spreading the virus….
November 24, 2020
UW public health expert calls on state officials, citizens to defend and rebuild public health agencies
Even before the pandemic and disagreements over social restrictions recommended by public health officials across the state, public health agencies in Washington were struggling due to a lack of resources. In recent weeks, firings, resignations and death threats targeting local health officials has led to a staffing crisis in the agencies most responsible for local…
Previous page Next page
