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Latest news and updates

Latest news and updates

Helping minority-owned small businesses survive and thrive post-COVID-19

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on small businesses and entrepreneurs, placing an approximated 4.2 million businesses and 47.8 million jobs at immediate or near-term risk of not surviving. To address this economic challenge, an interdisciplinary project at the University of Washington worked to connect business and legal support to assist and empower historically marginalized business owners and entrepreneurs in Washington state. The project, “Helping Minority-Owned Small Businesses Survive and Thrive Post-COVID-19,” was launched with a…

Study finds higher COVID-19 infection rates in pregnant women

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A University of Washington-led study finds that the COVID-19 infection rate in pregnant women is 70% higher than that of similarly aged adults in Washington. This study marks the first to address COVID-19 infection rates in pregnancy through the study of a large population representative of most pregnancies in the state. The researchers’ findings will inform vaccine policy and guide public health efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations. This study was supported by a Population Health…

Spotlight: Ali Rowhani-Rahbar’s pivot to firearm-related injury and crime research

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Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar has devoted much of his career to preventing and reducing the lethality and recurrence of interpersonal violence and self-directed harm. Born and raised in Iran, Rowhani-Rahbar began his career by earning a medical degree from Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2002. While in medical school, he completed his dissertation on the prevalence of bloodborne infections among incarcerated injection drug users in Iran. This work piqued his interest in population health, allowing him to recognize the intersection…

Application period open for 2021 summer applied research fellowships

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The Population Health Initiative, in partnership with the University of Washington’s Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology, is accepting applications for the summer 2021 Population Health Applied Research Fellowship Program until April 22, 2021. This paid fellowship program will offer a multidisciplinary team of undergraduate and graduate students training in data analysis techniques as well as in research and presentation skills while they develop a work product for an external partner. The summer 2021 project team’s external partner will…

Collaboration offers incoming students an understanding of population health

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An ongoing collaboration between the University of Washington Population Health Initiative and First Year Programs offers incoming undergraduate students the opportunity to research and learn about the concept of population health within the local Seattle community. This partnership reaches approximately 3,000 incoming freshmen and transfer students, offering students a preliminary introduction to the concept of population health and its interdisciplinarity. “The basic premise behind First Year Programs is to help create smaller academic communities for incoming students,” Meghan Coletta, program…

Emission reductions of 80% above Paris Agreement targets needed to limit warming

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A 2017 University of Washington-led study uncovered that current emissions reductions are not enough to achieve the Paris Agreement’s global temperature target of staying below 2 degrees Celsius warming this century. After disseminating these findings, the same researchers have now turned their attention to determine what emissions cuts would meet the international climate treaty’s goals. Using a statistical approach to model human-produced greenhouse gases, the researchers found that carbon emissions must be cut by an average of 1.8% annually to…

UW team advises employers how to keep employees and customers safe from COVID-19

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As businesses look towards resuming work operations amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many have questions and concerns about reopening safely. To address this issue, Martin Cohen, teaching professor at the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, established the Return-To-Work Task Force. The task force combines expertise across disciplines to inform various businesses on how to return to work safely. Thus far, the task force has advised over two dozen companies on workplace safety protocols and provided…

Bleeding gums may indicate your diet needs more vitamin

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New research from the University of Washington School of Dentistry suggests that bleeding gums may be indicative of vitamin C deficiency. The study, led by Philippe Hujoel, professor of oral health sciences in the UW School of Dentistry, demonstrates that bleeding of the gums is associated with low vitamin C levels in the bloodstream. Subsequent research found that increasing the daily intake of vitamin C in those with low vitamin C plasma levels helped reserve these bleeding issues. These findings…

Applications for summer Population Health Social Entrepreneurship Fellows due April 7

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The University of Washington Population Health Initiative – in partnership with the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, CoMotion and the Evans School – is accepting applications for its summer 2021 Social Entrepreneurship Fellows Program until Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program offers $10,000 summer salary each to five graduate or professional students from different academic disciplines as they explore social enterprise models that could support innovations developed by UW researchers. These innovations are specifically seeking novel ideas for…

Initiative announces award of 2021 pilot research grants

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Eight different faculty-led teams have received have received pilot research grant awards from the University of Washington Population Health Initiative. These teams are composed of individuals representing seven different schools and colleges as well as external partners. Generous additional funding from school, college and departmental matching brought the total value of these awards to roughly $530,000. “We’re delighted to support this year’s awardees in taking on pressing population health challenges ranging from COVID-19 to climate change to infant and child…