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Initiative-funded project assesses health disparities among state’s agricultural workers

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University of Washington researchers launched a study last year to identify and address health disparities related to the environmental, occupational, socioeconomic and biological stressors faced by rural underserved agricultural workers in Skagit and Whatcom counties. The project is funded by a $50,000 grant from the Population Health Initiative. The community-research team created a survey to be administered to the farmworkers. The questions were developed to identify, and then prioritize, agricultural, environmental, and occupational health and safety concerns, zeroing in on…

UW researchers develop smartphone app to detect opioid overdoses

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Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a cellphone app that uses sonar to monitor someone’s breathing rate and sense when an opioid overdose has occurred. The app, called Second Chance, sends inaudible sound waves from the phone to people’s chests and then monitors the way the sound waves return to the phone to look for specific breathing patterns. In testing, the app accurately detected overdose-related symptoms about 90 percent of the time and could track someone’s breathing from…

Mapping the flu in Seattle

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The Brotman Baty Institute for Precision Medicine recently launched the Seattle Flu Study in an effort to better understand how influenza and other contagious diseases spread, which will help inform how they might be better detected, monitored and controlled. The study will create a first-of-its-kind citywide network for infectious disease tracking by recruiting 10,000 Seattle residents and visitors who show flu-like symptoms. Volunteers who agree to participate at a designated kiosk in the city will be asked to provide a…

UW DEOHS helps map Washington’s environmental health disparities

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A new tool developed by the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and its partners illustrates communities most impacted by pollution and environmental inequality. This tool harnesses available data to map 19 indicators of community health by combining measures of pollution, proximity to environmental hazards, population health and socioeconomic status into a score used to rank each of Washington’s 1,458 census tracts on their relative environmental health risk. The result is a statewide view of the…

Initiative announces award of 2019 pilot research grants

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative announced the award of approximately $280,000 in pilot research grant funding to six faculty-led teams. These teams include members from seven different schools and colleges, plus representatives of both UW Bothell and Tacoma. Funding was partially matched by additional school, college and departmental funds, bringing the total value of these awards to roughly $850,000. “We were impressed by the number of innovative project ideas and the range of interdisciplinary collaborations represented in this…

UW degree programs recognized as among the best in the nation

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The U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best Graduate School rankings recognized many of the University of Washington’s graduate and professional degree programs as among the best in the nation. Several schools and departments placed prominently in the 2020 rankings, including medicine, nursing, social work and public affairs. “To tackle the many challenges our world faces, we need highly skilled and expertly trained researchers, scholars, scientists, engineers, healthcare providers and problem-solvers of all kinds,” UW President Ana Mari Cauce said….

Initiative to pilot a summer applied research fellowship program

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The Population Health Initiative, in partnership with the University of Washington Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology, will pilot test a Population Health Applied Fellowship Program during summer quarter 2019. This paid fellowship program will offer a multidisciplinary team of students training in data analysis techniques as well as in research and presentation skills while they develop a work product for an external partner. This summer’s partner is the Community Health Services Division (CHSD) of Public Health – Seattle…

Population health cooperative agreement signed with Aga Khan University

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The University of Washington has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Aga Khan University to codify population health partnership activities already underway and to leverage complementary strengths to further expand research, service and education in low- and middle-income countries. The agreement was signed by UW President Ana Mari Cauce and Aga Khan University President Firoz Rasul (both pictured). Representing the Aga Khan Development Network were Prince Rahim Aga Khan and Princess Salwa Aga Khan, nee Kendra Spears, UW Class…

Initiative piloting a summer social entrepreneurship fellows program

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The Population Health Initiative, in partnership with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, CoMotion and the Evans School, will pilot test a Social Entrepreneurship Fellows Program during summer quarter 2019. The paid fellowships will be offered to three graduate students from different disciplines who will explore various social enterprise models for innovations developed by University of Washington researchers. The projects for the summer 2019 program are all based on the use of mobile and digital technologies to improve population health. All…

Spring undergraduate course to highlight disaster research

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A home in Puerto Rico with a temporary roof after Hurricane Maria. The Population Health Initiative is offering a one-credit, credit/no-credit seminar-style course for undergraduate students during spring quarter called, “Disasters: Approaches to Preparation, Response and Recovery.” Natural and human-made disasters result in enormous human and economic costs, including immediate loss of lives, destruction of infrastructure, food shortages, disease outbreaks and displacement. The appropriate response to these disasters is complex, requiring multi-level, cross-sector coordination and input from a range of…