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Latest news and updates

Latest news and updates

Lower-income communities realize economic benefits from sweetened beverage taxes

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Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is a known contributor to a number of health issues, with several local jurisdictions in the U.S. having implemented sweetened beverage taxes as a means of successfully reducing purchasing. Most studies of the economic impact of these taxes have focused on retail-level data, with a new study from University of Washington researchers being among the first to investigate the impact at the household level. The study – which examined economic equity impacts of sweetened beverage taxes…

Winter quarter population health course to explore careers across disciplines

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The Population Health Initiative is partnering with the School of Public Health to offer a series of career-focused lectures during winter quarter 2023. This seminar course is designed for University of Washington undergraduate students from any degree program who are interested in exploring different career pathways in population health. This is a one-credit seminar graded as Credit/No-Credit course. Classes will occur on Wednesdays from 2:30 – 3:20 p.m. in Thomson Hall 125. Students are expected to attend in person. Students…

Winter 2023 undergraduate course highlights UW population health research

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The Population Health Initiative is continuing its partnership with the University of Washington’s Undergraduate Research Program (URP) to offer a series of faculty-led lectures during winter quarter 2023 focused on the three pillars of population health: human health, environmental resilience and social and economic equity. The Research Exposed! (General Studies 391 D) course will feature faculty from a range of disciplines discussing their population health-related research. Undergraduates may take this course for credit (i.e., one credit/quarter; three quarters max). Each…

Recapping the Global Perspectives: Women in Leadership in Public Health panel

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The Population Health Initiative – in partnership with the Office of Global Affairs, Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, and the School of Public Health – brought together an international, hybrid panel (pictured) on November 2, 2022 of four leading women to discuss their experiences navigating the field of public health, including how they have overcome institutionalized gender norms. The panel was moderated by Sebawit (Seba) Bishu, an assistant professor at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance,…

Spotlight: Graduate student Evalynn Fae Taganna Romano reflects on her time at UW

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While most people were isolating early during the COVID-19 pandemic, one University of Washington student was delivering deliver weekly breakfasts, cloth masks, thank you notes and grocery gift cards for more than 200 UW custodians. That student was Evalynn Fae Taganna Romano, a UW alum who received her undergraduate degree in Psychology in 2010, before returning for a master’s in both public health and social work in 2021. Romano has a long track record of advocacy work, her most prominent…

Expanding emissions decreases timeline of inevitable increase in global temperatures

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In order to limit greenhouse gas emissions to continue the gradual decline of emissions rates, many countries joined the Paris Agreement, which limits warming to 2 degrees Celsius at most. Researchers from the University of Washington sought to determine the extent to which past emissions guarantee a certain degree of warming by expanding their focus to include specific emissions such as methane and aerosols in addition to carbon dioxide. The researchers created a “best-case scenario” model by studying what would…

UW study assesses disproportionate access to opioid addiction treatment

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As the opioid addition crisis becomes increasingly worse across the U.S. over the past several years, federal policy changes are being implemented to shift patient evaluations toward a virtual format. A focus on buprenorphine, an effective treatment for opioid disorder, was another major aspect of these policy changes, as it is easy to prescribe in a telemedicine setting. Researchers at the University of Washington are exploring whether these changes in policy are affecting the disproportionate access to buprenorphine experienced by…

Initiative awards nine autumn quarter 2022 Tier 1 pilot research grants to UW teams

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The Population Health Initiative has awarded nine Tier 1 pilot grants to teams representing researchers from seven different University of Washington schools and colleges, plus UW Bothell and several different community-based partners. The total value of these nine awards is approximately $300,000, of which $213,000 is initiative funding and the remainder drawing from school, college and departmental matching funds. “We were pleased to receive a range of innovative proposals seeking to address grand challenges in topics ranging from wildfire smoke…

Interdisciplinary approach to mitigating human health impacts of prescribed forest fires

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The health impacts of smoke from forest fires are rising with the recent increase in fires due to climate change. Managing forest health through smaller prescribed fires is necessary to mitigating the intensity of wildfires, but the smoke from these fires simultaneously creates negative human health effects. To address this issue, a team of experts led by the University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy assembled an interdisciplinary team of experts to strike a balance between protecting human health and…

Global Perspectives: Women in Leadership in Public Health panel on Nov. 2

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Gender gaps within public health organizations are persistent and have been exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic, systematically preventing individuals who identify as women from advancing to positions of power and influence and impacting health system delivery to women and society overall. Please plan to join us online or in person at 8 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, for a conversation on the imperative of women in leadership in public health. Hear perspectives from four panelists working around the…