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Assessing corporate environmental, social and governance assurances

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Voluntary disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues by corporations in the United States have become increasingly common over the last decade. Investors, stakeholders and companies utilize ESG metrics to assess an organization’s sustainability and ethical impact, with stakeholders increasingly demanding ESG assurance, wherein third parties verify the metrics disclosed in ESG reports. Research from the University of Washington is assessing the landscape and evolution of ESG assurances among U.S. public companies, with findings from that work recently cited…

Representation beyond language: Initiative pilot researches HIV/AIDS trials participation

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While the estimated number of new HIV infections in the United States slowly declined from 2017 to 2021, HIV continues to disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities like the Hispanic/Latinx community. In 2022, the minority group accounted for 39% of estimated new HIV infections despite their number of new HIV diagnoses remaining stagnant compared to White and Black individuals. To address the HIV epidemic, research is pivotal in finding safe and efficacious preventative and curative alternatives to achieve the goal…

How online influencers profit from spreading anti-vaccine misinformation

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Instagram is increasingly serving as both a prominent news source and a platform awash in misinformation. University of Washington researchers recently investigated three Instagram influencers who disseminated anti-vaccine messages to better understand how such dissemination led to the promotion of products and fostered parasocial relationships with their followers to endorse products that supported anti-vaccine beliefs. The research team found several patterns in the studied influencers including gender (i.e., the influencers were all women), reliance on stereotypical “guilt trip” appeals and…

Spring 2023 Tier 3 pilot awardees report midpoint project updates

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative awarded four Tier 3 pilot grants in spring 2023 to interdisciplinary teams of researchers who sought to create follow-on opportunities for impactful projects that realized proof-of-concept. These projects include researchers from five different UW schools and colleges, as well as several community-based partners, and address topics such as noise pollution, children’s health and healthcare disparities. Each project has now reached its respective midpoint and are reporting progress in the following areas:

Exploring the impact of social policies on mental health of BIPOC, LGBTQ+ communities

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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a wave of mental health crises, marked by heightened anxiety, depression and increased rates of suicide. These adverse mental health outcomes have disproportionately affected Queer (LGBTQ+), disabled and Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities, underscoring the need to investigate the upstream causes behind these concerning trends. In spring 2023, a group of co-investigators, including community experts and researchers at the University of Washington, were awarded a Tier 1 Population Health Initiative pilot grant…

Awardees of 2022 Tier 1 pilot research grants report final project outcomes

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative awarded 11 Tier 1 Population Health Initiative pilot grants were awarded to teams representing researchers from 10 different UW schools and colleges on the Seattle and Tacoma campuses, as well as numerous community-based partners, in February 2022. These awards from the initiative’s Tier 1 pilot grant program were intended to support researchers in laying an interdisciplinary foundation for a future project to generate proof-of-concept. Each team has now completed their respective project and…

Initiative jointly funds two spring 2024 Innovation Gap Fund projects with CoMotion

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative announced with CoMotion the joint funding of two Innovation Gap Funds of $50,000 each. This $100,000 in collective funding will support projects that simultaneously support the UW’s vision for improving population health while also fulfilling the CoMotion Innovation Fund’s goal of enabling research that will achieve sustainable commercial or social impact. The first funded project is Colleague.AI: An AI Assistant for Educators. This project seeks to refine an artificial intelligence-driven assistant that supports…

New study assesses financial impact to business from Vision Zero safety projects

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Seattle has committed to Vision Zero, an international street safety movement. Through numerous infrastructure projects, this proposal aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2030. Despite concerns from local business owners about potential decreases in revenue due to reduced parking and disruptions to regular traffic flow, a study conducted by the University of Washington revealed that Vision Zero-focused safety projects had no adverse effects on businesses’ financial performance. The research team assessed seven pedestrian safety projects launched between 2006 and…

Initiative announces awardees of AI-focused population health pilot projects

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The Population Health Initiative announced the award of five, $100,000 artificial intelligence-focused pilot grants to support interdisciplinary teams of University of Washington researchers to develop preliminary data or proof-of-concept needed to pursue follow-on funding to scale their respective efforts. The total collective value of these awards is roughly $600,000, which includes matching funds from different schools, colleges and units. “The rapid advances we are seeing in technological innovation hold incredible promise for us to realize major progress in addressing some…

UW research finds pharma companies increased opioids marketing after Purdue Pharma lawsuit

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New research from the University of Washington examines the behavior of prescription opioid companies following key events in Kentucky’s lawsuit against Purdue Pharma regarding its controlled-release oral formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride (OxyContin). While Purdue Pharma significantly decreased its marketing budget for OxyContin, the UW researchers found that Kentucky’s litigation had the opposite effect on competing companies, with those companies marketing opioids to physicians previously pursued by Purdue Pharma, including in counties where the opioid crisis was known to be severe….