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Population Health Social Entrepreneurship Fellows call for applications

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The Population Health Initiative – in partnership with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, CoMotion and the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance – is accepting applications for the summer quarter 2020 Social Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. The paid fellowship will be offered to four graduate students from different disciplines to explore various social enterprise models for innovations that are developed by University of Washington researchers. The projects for the summer 2020 cohort are being developed to benefit disadvantaged populations and…

Help generate content for the new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health

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A key component of the University of Washington’s efforts to improve population health is the new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health. The Rosling Center, which will open in summer 2020, will act as a central hub for faculty, students, staff, partners and visitors from a wide range of disciplines across the university, the region, the nation and the world to address important population health challenges. The Rosling Center will have feature walls (pictured) located next to main building entrances….

Initiative supports creation of safe motherhood program with the Somali community

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Mama Amaan (Somali for “safe motherhood”) is a partnership between the Somali Health Board of Tukwila and the University of Washington. Its goal is to test the feasibility of a community-developed and run program of pre- and postnatal care services to help reduce negative health outcomes for women and infants. The program brings together women in five different locations around South Seattle and South King County for monthly lessons in the physical, mental and emotional issues of pregnancy, childbirth and…

Developing a chatbot to support caregivers of children with chronic conditions

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Being a parent or caregiver to a child can be a stressful experience, with added challenges if a child has a chronic illness or medical condition. A tri-campus team of University of Washington researchers is attempting to help reduce this stress through development of a chatbot that supports caregivers of children with chronic conditions. “We imagine using an established behavioral intervention to help people, to give them tools to problem-solve challenges they encounter as caregivers,” shared Weichao Yuwen, assistant professor…

New funding aims to boost number of inclusive classrooms in Washington state

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Half of children with developmental disabilities in Washington state will never be in a classroom alongside their typically developing peers, despite research showing that inclusive education is beneficial to all children. A recent gift to the University of Washington’s Haring Center for Inclusive Education will support an effort to improve academic and life outcomes for children with developmental disabilities by strengthening high-quality professional development for educators and administrators across the state. Learn More >

Awardees of 2019 pilot research grants report on progress

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The Population Health Initiative awarded six pilot research grants in March 2019 to faculty-led teams from seven different schools and colleges, plus representatives of both UW Bothell and Tacoma. The pilot research grants encourage new interdisciplinary collaborations among investigators for projects that address different challenges the UW seeks to address in population health. Since receiving their awards, the six teams have made significant initial progress towards achieving their goals for their yearlong projects. Highlights of their work includes:

Initiative announces 2020 funding call for pilot research grants

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The Population Health Initiative seeks to create a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. In support of that vision, the initiative is pleased to announce its 2020 funding call for population health pilot research grants of up to $50,000 each. Applications for this round of funding are due on Friday, January 31, 2020. These grants are intended to encourage the development of new interdisciplinary collaborations among investigators for projects that address critical components of grand…

Precision mapping could help predict infections of a widespread tropical disease

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Satellite images, drone photos and even Google Earth could help identify communities most at risk for getting schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that is second only to malaria in its global health impact. A team led by the University of Washington and Stanford University has discovered clues in the environment that help identify transmission hotspots for schistosomiasis. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses rigorous field sampling and aerial images to precisely map communities that…

New autoinjector device seeks to make medicine more accessible

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Image of the Epinject device

Through student project-turned-startup MedsForAll, University of Washington materials science and engineering alum Shawn Swanson is developing an affordable alternative to the EpiPen. The MedsForAll approach is to separate the drug from the autoinjector device, allowing the device to be sold separately and pharmacists to load it by inserting a glass ampule of the prescribed drug. Swanson and the MedsForAll team have drawn heavily from the expertise and resources of the UW, including the Department of Materials & Engineering, the Engineering…

Winter 2020 undergraduate course highlights UW population health research

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The Population Health Initiative has again partnered with the University of Washington’s Undergraduate Research Program (URP) to offer a series of lectures during winter quarter 2020 that focus on the three pillars of population health: human health, environmental resilience and social and economic equity. The Research Exposed! (General Studies 391) 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 lecture is…