New test can identify Alzheimer-related protein in blood years before symptoms emerge

Posted on June 29, 2023

Most Alzheimer’s patients are currently diagnosed only after they present with symptoms of the disease. University of Washington researchers are working to create a reliable diagnostic test that can detect signs of Alzheimer’s prior to a patient exhibiting symptoms. The research team found that seeds of Alzheimer’s are planted in the brain years before diagnosis. These seeds are amyloid beta proteins, which cluster to form small aggregates called oligomers. Scientists believe these oligomers later develop into Alzheimer’s, so the UW…

Exploring the benefits of home-based food businesses in Washington State

Posted on June 27, 2023June 27, 2023

Inequitable access to economic resources and employment opportunities plays a significant role in health disparities. In the United States, for example, women, immigrants and people of color face many barriers to securing high-quality jobs and financial security. As a result, marginalized communities may see benefits from unconventional careers like self-employment as a means of mitigating barriers such as access to higher education and professional networks. To explore the potential benefits of self-employment, Will von Geldern, a Ph.D. student at the…

Five awardees of 2022 Tier 3 pilot research grants report on their progress

Posted on June 22, 2023

The Population Health Initiative awarded five Tier 3 pilot grants to University of Washington project teams representing seven different UW schools and colleges as well as several community-based partners in June 2022. These awards from the initiative’s Tier 3 pilot grant program were intended to support faculty and PI-eligible staff to create follow-on opportunities for impactful projects that have developed preliminary data or realized proof-of-concept and are seeking to scale their efforts and/or expand the scope of their work. The…

Fall interdisciplinary team science, community engaged research workshop scheduled

Posted on June 20, 2023

Join the University of Washington Health Sciences Schools, College of Engineering and the Population Health Initiative this fall for an appointment, promotion and tenure (APT) workshop. The workshop will take place on Monday, September 25, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health (Room 155). The aim of this workshop is to introduce the APT toolkit for early career faculty and pre- and post-docs who conduct interdisciplinary team science research or interdisciplinary community…

Winning papers announced for 2023 Population Health Library Research Awards

Posted on June 7, 2023

The Population Health Initiative announced today that four University of Washington undergraduate students have been honored with 2023 Population Health Library Research Awards. This award was created in 2017 in partnership with the UW Libraries and is open to undergraduates from all three University of Washington campuses. The projects submitted were completed for either UW course credit or for the Undergraduate Research Program. The key factors for choosing awardees included the quality of their writing, the innovativeness of their research…

Initiative announces selection of summer 2023 Social Entrepreneurship Fellows

Posted on June 1, 2023

The Population Health Initiative announced the selection of five graduate fellows for the summer 2023 cohort of the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program, which is run in partnership with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, CoMotion, School of Public Health and the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. The five fellows will spend 10 weeks over the summer producing innovative solutions and contributions to support the work of preexisting, multidisciplinary projects developed by University of Washington researchers. The students selected for…

Report offers recommendations to improve issues of equity in marine plastics pollution

Posted on May 24, 2023

A new report from the University of Washington seeks to highlight the impact of plastic pollution in the ocean on human populations, and particularly the unequal burden it places on different communities. In particular, the authors seek to refocus the problem as being one of plastic production rather than an issue of waste management. Key topics covered in the report include recommending changes in nomenclature (e.g., using plastic pollution instead of plastic litter), discussing the rise in plastic waste as…

Initiative awards nine spring quarter 2023 Tier 1 pilot grants to UW research teams

Posted on May 16, 2023January 2, 2024

The Population Health Initiative announced the award of nine Tier 1 pilot grants to interdisciplinary research teams representing 10 of the University of Washington’s schools and colleges. The total award value of these grants is nearly $210,000, which includes school, department and unit matching funds. “We were extremely pleased with the range of challenges these awards will work to address,” said Ali H. Mokdad, the UW’s chief strategy officer for population health and professor of health metrics sciences. “It was…