Improving the health of homeless youth and their pets

Posted on April 30, 2019

The University of Washington and Washington State University are working with New Horizons Ministries and Neighborcare Health to provide health care and veterinary care to young adults experiencing homelessness – and their pets. Many people experiencing homelessness have pets, but the animals can be a barrier to health care as owners may not want to leave their dogs or cats while visiting a clinic. Enter the new One Health Clinic in downtown Seattle, which welcomes two- and four-legged patients for…

UW researchers discover new method to assess platelet health

Posted on April 24, 2019

Emergency room physicians often have only a few minutes to determine which patients are in need of a blood transfusion. However, these physicians currently have no direct method to assess the health of platelets, one of the most critical component of the blood, which play a huge role in helping blood clot after an injury. Researchers at the University of Washington have created a novel microfluidic device that measures platelet forces in real time to help doctors determine which trauma…

Latino Center for Health offering small grant awards of up to $15,000

Posted on April 17, 2019

The University of Washington Latino Center for Health has announced a funding call for its 2019 Small Grants Program. This program offers funding to projects and partnerships benefitting Latinx communities in Washington State. Letters of intent to apply are due on May 1, 2019. Two levels of funding are currently available through the program: Academic and community partners that are in the early stages of collaboration can apply for grants of up to $5,000 to continue their planning for future…

Exposure to chemical in weedkiller increases risk for cancer

Posted on April 16, 2019

New research from the University of Washington found that exposure to glyphosate — the world’s most widely used, broad-spectrum herbicide — increases the risk of some cancers by more than 40 percent. The research team conducted an updated meta-analysis — a comprehensive review of existing literature — and focused on the most highly exposed groups in each study. They found that the link between glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is stronger than previously reported. “Our analysis focused on providing the best…

Applications for undergraduate Library Research Awards due May 6

Posted on April 9, 2019

The Population Health Initiative is again partnering with the University Libraries to offer Population Health Recognition Awards as part of the annual Library Research Award for Undergraduates. The Library Research Award is given to undergraduates who demonstrate outstanding ability to identify, locate, select, evaluate and synthesize library and other information resources and to use them in the creation of an original course project. Population Health Recognition Awards of $250 each are available for innovative, interdisciplinary or well-written research papers relevant…

Aga Khan University internship applications due April 17

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

The Aga Khan University offers international internships to University of Washington undergraduate and graduate students through a partnership with the Population Health Initiative. Applications are being accepted until April 17 for fall 2019 postings. There are 19 different internship positions available in this round of applications. These positions include roles in communications, finance, grant writing, health, engineering and more. The country locations for the internships include Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The Aga Khan University is specifically seeking University of…

UW researchers develop smartphone app to detect opioid overdoses

Posted on March 26, 2019

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

Posted on March 22, 2019

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

Posted on March 20, 2019March 22, 2019

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…