Spotlight: Martine De Cock’s privacy-preserving artificial intelligence research

Posted on February 11, 2025

The potential for artificial intelligence to solve some of the world’s biggest problems has always motivated Dr. Martine De Cock to work on developing and improving its utilization across multiple disciplines. De Cock, a professor in the School of Engineering & Technology at University of Washington Tacoma, particularly believes in the power of privacy preserving AI in healthcare, which involves securely obtaining and utilizing patient data in order to improve current machine learning models aimed at diagnosing and treating a…

Applications for 2025 summer applied research fellowships due on March 20

Posted on February 4, 2025February 4, 2025

The University of Washington’s Population Health Initiative is partnering with the university’s Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology for the seventh consecutive summer to offer the Population Health Applied Research Fellowship program. Applications for this summer’s cohort will be accepted until March 20, 2025 from undergraduate and graduate students across all schools and colleges on all three UW campuses. This paid fellowship program will offer a multidisciplinary team of undergraduate and graduate students training in data analysis techniques as…

Initiative-funded pilot develops training for pharmacists to treat people with epilepsy

Posted on January 27, 2025

Epilepsy, a complex spectrum of seizure disorders, which affects about 3.4 million people nationwide, making it the fourth most common neurological disease in the United States. While anti seizure medicines (ASMs) are the first line of treatment, 50% of people living with epilepsy (PWE) experience adverse drug effects that lessen medication adherence and quality of life (QoL). For nearly five years, a team of interdisciplinary researchers at the University of Washington, which included H. Steve White (Pharmacy), Andy Stergachis (Pharmacy…

UW research finds decrease in sweetened beverage consumption after tax implemented

Posted on January 22, 2025March 6, 2025

New research from the University of Washington found a nearly 50% reduction in purchases of sweetened beverages in lower-income households after introducing a sweetened beverage tax. The study investigated responses to sweetened beverage taxes by observing the purchasing behavior of approximately 400 households in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia. Researchers followed the households for a year before and after the tax was implemented in their city, finding a larger price increase in taxed beverages for lower-income households compared to…

Spotlight: Sharon Laing puts community first, and the rest follows

Posted on January 15, 2025

If there is one person you can always count on to be out in the community seeking opportunities for growth, change and improvement, it is Dr. Sharon Laing. Laing, an associate professor in the School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership at University of Washington Tacoma, uses community-based health research to better understand the needs of the community while ensuring equitable healthcare solutions are offered to structurally marginalized communities. “There is a need to engage with the community and not be…

UW News highlights Initiative-funded research offering better data on unhoused populations

Posted on January 7, 2025March 6, 2025

UW News spoke with researchers Zack Almquist, a University of Washington associate professor of Sociology, and Amy Hagopian, professor emeritus of Health Systems and Population Health, to learn more about their Population Health Initiative research aimed at providing a more representative sample of the estimated total unhoused population. America’s homeless service systems rely on federal reports to allocate funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD) and direct local service providers towards appropriate outreach efforts. Hagopian emphasized that…

New UW research assesses the harm of workplace psychosocial hazards

Posted on January 2, 2025March 6, 2025

New research from University of Washington School of Public Health examined the severity of occupational psychosocial hazards on U.S. workers while highlighting the underlying sociodemographic disparities that harm racially and ethnically minority workers to a greater extent. The research was published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, leading to the creation of a publicly accessible database that provides insight to how these psychosocial hazards are present across occupations and sociodemographic groups. Researchers looked at 19 psychosocial hazards, divided into…

UW-led study reveals disparities in suicide rates among young Asian Americans

Posted on December 30, 2024March 6, 2025

A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that suicide rates among young Asian Americans (ages 15-24) vary significantly between different ethnic subpopulations, suggesting that low rates in some groups might be hiding high rates in others. Dr. Anthony L. Bui, the study’s lead author and an acting assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, advised that programs aimed at reducing suicide rates among young Asian Americans should attempt to understand the needs of higher-risk…

Initiative, Buerk Center co-host third annual Sacia Digital Health Innovation Workshop

Posted on December 18, 2024

For the fourth year in a row, a cross-campus collaboration between the Foster School of Business’ Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship and the Population Health Initiative offered students an immersive and hands-on opportunity to workshop new solutions in the growing and dynamic field of digital health. Approximately 30 undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines came together on November 16, 2024 in the University of Washington’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health to make the 2024 Sacia Digital Health…