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

Posted on February 7, 2023

The Population Health Initiative awarded 11 Tier 1 pilot grants in May 2022 to teams representing researchers from seven different UW schools and colleges, as well as UW Tacoma and numerous community-based partners, in May 2022. These awards from the initiative’s Tier 1 pilot grant program were intended to support researchers in laying an interdisciplinary foundation for a future project to generate proof-of-concept. The projects have reached its respective mid-point and investigators are reporting a range of progress in their…

Early Fall Start 2023 course will explore social entrepreneurship and population health in India

Posted on January 31, 2023February 11, 2025

The Population Health Initiative and University of Washington Honors Program have partnered to offer, “Social Entrepreneurship and Population Health in India,” an Honors Early Fall Start study abroad opportunity. This program will run from August 19 to September 8, 2023, and be led by Alissa Bilfield of the School of Public Health and Akhtar Badshah of the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and UW Bothell. This three-week immersive program will examine social entrepreneurship in population health in India….

Ocean drilling help scientists home in on the link between tectonic forces and earthquake cycles

Posted on January 26, 2023

A study led by the University of Washington and the University of Texas Austin discovered that tectonic stress near Japan’s Nankai subduction zone is less than expected. The area is known to have some of the most powerful and damaging tsunamis in the globe, like the 1946 eruption that killed thousands, and is still on course for another eruption in the next 50 years. These findings are key in helping scientists understand the links between tectonic forces and earthquake cycles…

Winter quarter seminar series focuses on data science methodologies in population health

Posted on January 23, 2023

The University of Washington Population Health Initiative and the eScience Institute are offering a two-part seminar series, “Pop Health Data Science,” during winter quarter 2023. This series will explore the application of data science methodologies to address pressing challenges to population health. The two seminars for this quarter are: Thursday, January 26, 2023: Ali H. Mokdad, UW Chief Strategy Officer for Population Health and Professor of Health Metrics Sciences, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Register to Attend Thursday, February…

Spotlight: Akhtar Badshah’s passion for social impact

Posted on January 18, 2023September 4, 2025

A chance encounter nearly 20 years ago sparked what has become Akhtar Badshah’s passion for the topics of social impact, social innovation and social entrepreneurship. Now a lecturer at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, Badshah’s first passion was architecture. He spent his formative professional years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), first to earn his Master of Science in Architecture Studies and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies, and then as an instructor of architecture….

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

Posted on January 12, 2023January 12, 2023

Eleven Tier 1 Population Health Initiative pilot grants were awarded to teams representing researchers from nine different UW schools and colleges, as well as UW Tacoma and numerous community-based partners, in February 2022. These awards from the initiative’s Tier 1 pilot grant program were intended to support researchers in laying an interdisciplinary foundation for a future project to generate proof-of-concept. Each of the projects have reached its respective mid-point, and investigators are reporting a range of progress in their work….

Initiative co-hosts second annual Sacia Digital Health Innovation Workshop

Posted on January 10, 2023

Students from a variety of disciplines came together on November 19, 2022, in the University of Washington’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health to make the second annual Sacia Digital Health Innovation Workshop an exciting and engaging day of activities. The event, which sought to offer students an immersive and hands-on opportunity to workshop new solutions in the growing and dynamic field of digital health, was led by the Foster School’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship in partnership with the Population…

New foundation funding to help UW faculty members narrow gaps in health equity

Posted on January 5, 2023April 8, 2025

Two University of Washington faculty members, Weichao Yuwen and Maggie Ramirez, have received a $50,000 grant from the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation’s Emergent Innovation program to narrow gaps in health equity. Yuwen and Ramirez’s project, “AI-Enhanced Nursing Intervention Platform for Latino Family Caregivers,” seeks to tailor an existing artificial intelligence platform – Caring for Caregivers Online, or COCO – to offer culturally-congruent support to caregivers of children with chronic conditions. “Despite overwhelming and disparate needs, the use of supportive…

UW study bolsters evidence of link between air pollution and health outcomes

Posted on December 13, 2022

New research from University of Washington investigators has added to the evidence that prenatal and postnatal exposure to air pollution can harm kids. Specifically, the study found that mothers in the first and second trimesters who were exposed to nitrogen dioxide (N02) were more likely to experience behavioral problems. Children aged 2-4 exposed to small particle air pollution were also reported to have poorer behavioral functioning and cognitive performance. This study highlights the vulnerability of pregnant women, children and the…