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Latest news and updates

Latest news and updates

Hedwig Lee elected to board of IAPHS

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Dr. Hedwig (Hedy) Lee, a member of the Population Health Initiative’s executive council and associate professor of sociology, has been elected as a board member for the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS). Dr. Lee will serve a three-year term beginning February 1, 2017. IAPHS fosters scientific innovation and discovery to improve the health of populations and reduce health disparities by connecting population health scientists across disciplines and sectors, advancing the development of population health science, and promoting its…

Initiative funds studio grant to explore global health partnerships

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The Population Health Initiative, in partnership with the UW’s Simpson Center for the Humanities, has awarded a Collaboration Studio Grant to a research team examining how global health partnerships have been developed, enacted and changed over time. The project, “The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Global Health Partnerships in Africa,” will draw from the fields of medical anthropology, African studies, and public health to track partnerships from the late colonial period to present to explore ongoing complexities. Through this…

Decoding dyslexia with non-invasive brain imaging

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The brain has evolved over thousands of years to allow humans to communicate through language. Reading is a relatively new skill for the brain, however, which leads assistant professor Jason Yeatman to wonder if dyslexia is a byproduct of visual systems being wired slightly differently in some humans. With the aid of non-invasive brain imaging technology, Yeatman and his team are studying developing brains to identify the changes that occur as reading skills are required. Through this research, they hope…

Initiative awards pilot funds for AR/VR-based rehabilitation therapy

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The Population Health Initiative, in partnership with the UW’s Office of Global Affairs, has awarded a $15,000 Global Innovation Fund pilot to a team attempting to deploy augmented reality/virtual reality-based rehabilitation therapy via cell phones. The project, which is led by Dr. Pierre D. Mourad of UW Bothell, seeks to find ways to “gamify” home-based physical therapy to increase patient compliance with therapy regimens, thereby improving patient outcomes. The project team’s focus will be development of an effective, low cost…

Air pollution accelerates plaque build-up in arteries to heart

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Researchers have long understood that lengthy exposure to air pollution is directly linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Thanks to the result of a 10-year study led by professor Joel Kaufman, we now have not only a greater understanding of the biological responses to pollution that lead to heart disease, but we also know that air pollution at levels even below regulatory standards can accelerate the hardening of human arteries. The study’s results are being used to push…

Effects of shoreline armoring on the ecosystem

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The seawalls and bulkheads around the Salish Sea protect the land from erosion and landslides. However, the unintended consequences from this armoring include smaller beaches and reduced habitats for spawning fish and invertebrates, which then indirectly impacts larger species such as orca whales. A recent University of Washington study analyzed 65 pairs of sites broadly within Puget Sound to assess the impacts of shoreline armoring to the ecosystem of the Salish Sea. The study also offered recommendations for how to…

UW Livable City Year program seeking municipal partners

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The University of Washington’s Livable City Year initiative is now accepting proposals from cities, counties, special districts and regional partnerships to be partners during the 2017-2018 academic year. UW Livable City Year (UW LCY) connects university faculty and students with a municipal partner for a full academic year to work on projects fostering livability. The municipal partner will identify a selection of projects in their community that could be addressed by UW LCY courses. Areas of focus include environmental sustainability,…

IHME study finds large increases in U.S. deaths related to substance abuse and mental disorders

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The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington released a new study today that found substantial geographic differences in mortality in more than 3,100 U.S. counties. The study, which was published in JAMA, found that more than 2,000 counties had increases of 200 percent or more in deaths related to substance abuse and mental disorders over the last 34 years. Through their updated visualization tool and county profiles, IHME is able to offer these findings…

Creating devices that reanimate paralyzed limbs

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Researchers at the UW’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering are developing groundbreaking new medical devices intended to help restore function and mobility in individuals stricken by spinal cord injury or stroke. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, these researchers have developed implantable devices that can detect brain signals and transmit that information to other parts of the body’s nervous system. The Center’s goal is to develop a successful demonstration of this concept in humans in the next five years, which will then allow…

Community engagement leads to new vision screening law

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The routine distance-vision eye test has long been a staple of public school education in the State of Washington. Near-vision problems have not traditionally received the same scrutiny, which will soon change thanks to a new law signed by Governor Jay Inslee earlier this year. The law grew out of a vision and learning symposium organized in 2014 by associate professor Bill Erdly, who helped bring together the experts, advocates, and legislators needed to collaboratively develop a solution to the…