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Latest news and updates

Latest news and updates

Thirteen new members named to Population Health Initiative executive council

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University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce has named 13 new representatives to the 30-member Population Health Initiative executive council. These individuals, who will begin their terms in autumn quarter 2023, are: Tricia Serio, provost and executive vice president José Alaniz, professor of Slavic Languages & Literature, College of Arts & Sciences John Fortney, professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine Ivy Lin, acting assistant professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry Peggy Odegard, professor of…

New York Climate Exchange features the UW as a core partner

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The University of Washington is one of the core partners involved in the launch of the New York Climate Exchange, a new center located on Governors Island that will develop and deploy dynamic solutions to the global climate crisis. The Climate Exchange is headed by Stony Brook University and consists of numerous core partners, including the University of Washington, other academic institutions, community leaders and businesses. The UW is the only core partner on the West Coast of the United…

Understanding the impact of long COVID on Latino communities

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The University of Washington’s Latino Center for Health has launched a study to understand the extent and impact of long COVID on Washington’s Latino communities. According to the World Health Organization, long COVID is the continuation of symptoms that began within three months of a case of infection and have persisted for at least two months with no other explanation. Since the start of the pandemic, Latino communities in Washington state have had higher rates of COVID infection than the…

Project identifies thousands of racially discriminatory housing covenants

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The University of Washington’s Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, led by James Gregory, a professor of history, an uncovered more than 40,000 property deeds in Western Washington containing racially discriminatory language. A team of UW students and nearly 800 volunteers identified these deeds through are investigation of racial covenants in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Whatcom and Thurston counties via research, data management and community outreach. The Washington state legislature authorized and funded this project in 2021 to find and map neighborhoods where…

Improving adherence to pediatric clinical care guidelines in Kenya

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Deaths of children under five years of age in Kenya have been steadily decreasing since 1990. However, nearly 65,000 children are still dying each year from causes such as diarrhea, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia and malnutrition. While standard medical guidelines exist for clinical care for each of these conditions, adherence to those guidelines remains inconsistent in Kenya. A team of researchers from the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute are currently testing new approaches to increase the use of pediatric…

UW Bothell lecturer on journey to support ALS patients through game technology

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ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, with those diagnosed eventually losing the ability to speak and move. Augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and video games may offer benefits, which is a research direction one University of Washington Bothell faculty member is pursuing. Dr. Wanda Gregory, a lecturer at UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, teaches courses in game and interactive media design as well…

Awardees of autumn quarter 2022 Tier 1 pilot research grants report their progress

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The Population Health Initiative awarded Tier 1 pilot grants in autumn quarter 2022 to nine different teams that are working to lay an interdisciplinary foundation for future projects to generate proof-of-concept. Each of the funded projects has now reached the mid-point of their work, and investigators have shared a range of positive progress that is described in the following sections.

New research investigates long-term health risks for firefighters

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Firefighters face occupational risks in the profession on a daily basis. Potential exposures to toxic chemicals is the focus for three major research studies by investigators at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health. The first study is concerned with firefighters’ exposure to PFAs (per- and polyfluorinated substances) due to its prevalence in fire fighting foams. The project team will collect blood and urine samples from study volunteers for comparison with career firefighters to better understand the level of…

Initiative jointly funds two Innovation Gap Fund projects with CoMotion

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative continued its annual partnership with CoMotion to jointly fund two Innovation Gap Funds of $50,000 each. This $100,000 in 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 DEFIB AI: Defibrillator Algorithms for Patient-Specific Cardiac Arrest Treatment. The project is led by Jason Coult…

New test can identify Alzheimer-related protein in blood years before symptoms emerge

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Most Alzheimer’s patients are currently diagnosed only after they present with symptoms of the disease. University of Washington researchers are working to create a reliable diagnostic test that can detect signs of Alzheimer’s prior to a patient exhibiting symptoms. The research team found that seeds of Alzheimer’s are planted in the brain years before diagnosis. These seeds are amyloid beta proteins, which cluster to form small aggregates called oligomers. Scientists believe these oligomers later develop into Alzheimer’s, so the UW…