Spotlight: Sara Curran’s exemplification of interdisciplinary collaboration

Posted on November 2, 2021

Sara Curran, professor of International Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and Director of the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology (CSDE), recognizes the merit and significance of interdisciplinary collaborations. Curran also holds a joint appointment as professor of Sociology, another joint appointment at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Global Health. Through her own interdisciplinary background and career, Curran illustrates the…

Analyzing the impact of the pandemic on low-income housing security in Washington State

Posted on October 27, 2021

New research from of the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy & Governance analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing security in Washington State. Through a collaboration with the Tenants Union of Washington State, the researchers examined low-income tenants’ housing security. They discovered that current conditions had increased rental debts, reduced residential mobility, and poorer housing quality for low-income people. The researchers also uncovered that the pandemic had worsened the negative impacts of housing insecurity on…

Winter 2022 undergraduate course highlights UW population health research

Posted on October 19, 2021October 19, 2021

The Population Health Initiative is continuing its partnership with the University of Washington’s Undergraduate Research Program (URP) to offer a series of lectures during winter quarter 2022 that focus 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 number of disciplines discussing their population health-related research. Undergraduates may take this course for credit (i.e., one credit/quarter; three quarters max). Each…

Impact of wildfire smoke hit some groups harder than others

Posted on October 14, 2021

Nearly a dozen researchers from the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) in the School of Public Health have been hard at work addressing questions and health risks associated with wildfires in the Northwest. Through a series of community-based research projects, DEOHS researchers and their collaborators are working to study the dangers of wildfires, identify those most vulnerable to uncontrolled fires and develop innovative solutions to alleviate or reduce the health issues associated with wildfires….

UW Community Circle launches, seeks to build a community of care

Posted on October 12, 2021October 22, 2021

Several University of Washington programs are launching a community circle with a conversation about Resmaa Menakem’s book, My Grandmother’s Hands, which focuses on how to build a community of care by addressing embodied trauma. The kickoff event is occurring virtually on October 28, 2021 at 4 p.m. Pacific and is open to all UW faculty and staff. Interested participants should register online by October 25th. The ebook is available via UW Libraries. The community circle will serve as a space…

Northwest Detention Center study examines pandemic’s effect on local immigrant population

Posted on October 7, 2021

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted virtually every aspect of society, notably the United States immigration system. The United States has the largest immigrant detention infrastructure in the world. Immigrant rights advocates have raised concerns over the management of American detention centers, with concerns regarding human rights conditions experienced by immigrants who encounter such centers. While the pandemic led to a suspension of many immigration court proceedings and the closure of travel borders, immigrants and their families have been disproportionately…

Spotlight: Shawn Swanson pursues medical innovations through social entrepreneurship

Posted on September 30, 2021

Shawn Swanson is a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington College of Engineering and 2021 Population Health Social Entrepreneurship Fellow. He is also the CEO and co-founder of MedsForAll, a startup that aims to provide accessible and affordable rescue drug autoinjectors to historically underserved populations. The idea behind MedsForAll stemmed from Swanson’s background and expertise in materials science and engineering. “I always had been interested in materials since I was a kid,” Swanson said. “This interest led…

New study explores impact of police action on population health

Posted on September 21, 2021

Policing and exposures to law enforcement impact the population health of a community, a new University of Washington-led study demonstrates. The research study shows how policing influences the health and wellbeing of communities in complex ways that have short- and long-term consequences. The researchers conceptualize how incidents involving police, whether indirect or direct, lead to a series of effects on individuals, the community, and the broader systems in which they reside. Collectively, these effects involve a “bidirectional” relationship between policing…

Project EMAR works to improve adolescent mental health via a co-designed social robot

Posted on September 16, 2021

According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, about 3.2 million teens in the United States have had at least one major depressive episode within the past 12 months. These findings confirm that depression and anxiety among teenagers have been on the rise, which provokes questions around whether current school-based mental health services sufficiently support teens. To address this mental health crisis, Elin A. Björling, senior research scientist and part-time lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Design…