In good hands
Led by UW faculty and researchers, the Clean Hands Collective team creates safe handwashing stations for the Seattle community.
Social justice and medicine mix at NATIVE Project
UW Medicine student Kika Kaui spent her summer at the NATIVE Project clinic in Spokane, immersed in the practice of generational, integrated medical and mental health services.
Advocacy journalism during the pandemic
UW students Sabreen Abdullah and Isabel Wang were Advocacy Journalism Fellows at Seattle’s International Examiner, covering the API community through “journalism that adopts a more empathetic lens.”
Engineering students tackle real-world COVID challenges
The UW Engineering Innovation in Health program connects health-care experts with engineering students and faculty. The result: innovative devices that meet health-related needs.
Treating racism in medicine
Physician and UW assistant professor Rachel Issaka knows firsthand how structural racism harms both patients and health-care workers. Her recent essay urges medical professionals to call out and dismantle it.
Seeing COVID-19 from inside an ambulance
UW Bothell senior Oscar Ochoa, ’20, is an EMT and plans to become a physician assistant serving the Latino community. He shares what it’s like to be a first responder during a pandemic.
His cancer returned, but his drive to help was unstoppable
Ryan Dwyer and his stepdaughter both faced cancer treatment last year. Despite a relapse, Dwyer is giving back to caregivers at the UW and beyond — and helping restaurants stay afloat in the process.
UW women engineers mentor teens from a distance
Natalie Salazar, ’20, and the UW’s Society of Women Engineers responded to remote learning by connecting Seattle high school students with online mentoring in STEM.
Mural by Stevie Shao
Public art: the future of Seattle’s murals
UW museology affiliate faculty member Kyana Wheeler and graduate student Dawn Dailey are helping shape a conversation about art, protest and ownership as the fate of Seattle’s pandemic and protest art is decided.
UW-IT team helps make Zoom more accessible for millions of users
From advising the developers of Zoom to consulting with UW Medicine on accessible COVID-19 resources, the UW’s Accessible Technology Services helps improve tech access for people with disabilities.
Alumna helps strike down Jim Crow–era laws
Jamila Johnson, ’07, managing attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative, was instrumental in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning a law designed to nullify the votes of Black jurors.
From fruit flies to coronavirus testing
Thanks to her experience in biology and neuroscience labs, UW graduate student Su-Yee Lee was ready to answer the call when help was needed at UW Virology’s COVID-19 testing center.
Photo by Zorn B. Taylor
UW student and alum organize for Black healing
Reagan Jackson, ’01, and Mary Hall-Williams, ’21, created a Juneteenth day of healing for Seattle’s Black community, and their Blackout Healing events continue to offer space for joy, grief, remembrance and unity.
Making school systems more just
The College of Education’s new Learning Together 2020 initiative will address inequities made more visible during the pandemic.
Protecting communities most vulnerable to COVID-19
The UW School of Public Health and Washington State Department of Health are partnering to reduce health-care barriers for those who are older, have medical conditions, or aren’t fluent in English.
A poet’s hope
Colleen McElroy, the first Black woman tenured professor at the UW, discusses the racism she’s seen in her 85 years and how this moment may be a turning point.
Hacking the pandemic
The inaugural Husky AI Hackathon put teams of business, engineering, computer science and design students to work on artificial intelligence solutions for a world transformed by COVID-19.
International Huskies give back
The global pandemic inspired UW alumni and friends around the planet to pull together resources, rally support and pitch in from all over the world.
The show must go online
From a childhood in Nicaragua to teaching outside the canon, UW Tacoma lecturer Maria-Tania Bandes-Becerra Weingarden brings her life experience to reimagining performing arts in the age of COVID-19.
Life in emergency
Emergency physician Nick Johnson describes working at Harborview Medical Center as COVID-19 cases surged: what changed, how his team prepared and how the UW led the response.
Keeping the home fires burning
During the challenges of the pandemic, many restaurant owners rely on family support. Two UW alums are helping keep their family businesses afloat — from making drinks to applying for aid to managing social media.
Maintaining strength and hope
UW Facilities staff share how they’re finding the resilience they need to keep campus running. From gardening and meditation to making time to connect, read what keeps them going.
UW’s 2020 Alumna Summa Laude Dignata is front and center
As director of Public Health–Seattle & King County, alumna Patty Hayes, ’76, ’80, is leading our community’s pandemic response — and improving lives across the region.
The showcase must go on
A performance showcase is a crucial opportunity for student actors to make professional connections. With their live event canceled, UW School of Drama grads are showing off their skills online.
Protecting lives with 3D printers
UW faculty, students and staff have harnessed the power of 3D printing to help create crucial personal protective equipment for health-care workers on the COVID-19 front lines.
UW Wind Ensemble plays on
How do the UW’s finest wind and percussion players find meaningful ways to pursue their art during a pandemic? They start by exploring improvisation, technology and composition.
Finding aid across language barriers
COVID-19 has hurt small businesses, but assistance is out of reach for those not fluent in English. Selam Misgano, ’10, manager of the Othello–UW Commons in Southeast Seattle, is helping bridge the language gap.
Navigating COVID-19 resources for entrepreneurs
Nonprofits and entrepreneurs are navigating a sea of pandemic-related details and regulations. UW Law’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic created a comprehensive COVID-19 Resource List to help.
Nursing education on the front lines
UW School of Nursing graduate students like Liam Malpass, D.N.P. ’21, are getting a real-world education with Public Health–Seattle & King County, volunteering on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Small children, big questions
People of all ages have questions about loneliness, death and uncertainty. The UW Center for Philosophy for Children is helping families talk about them together.
UW education experts on how COVID-19 impacts schools
Educators from the UW’s Leadership for Learning (Ed.D.) program discuss disrupted school systems, strategies for adapting and the importance of equity.
Grad students put their public-health expertise to work
UW epidemiology students on the Student Epidemic Action Leaders (SEAL) Team are using their skills and training to help with Washington state’s COVID-19 testing, case contacts and more.
Refugee artisans create PPE for health-care workers
Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman, a clinical pharmacist with a UW certificate in fashion design, and her Refugee Artisan Initiative are
making thousands of masks and shields to protect health-care workers.
Foster students provide leadership in COVID-19 response
Two Technology Management MBA students are playing leading roles in the local response to COVID-19: managing a quarantine site for patients who are homeless, and leading data management for the state’s COVID-19 response team.
UW nursing students volunteer for the front lines
During National Nurses Week and year-round, we’re grateful for the crucial work of nurses. UW School of Nursing students are finding ways to gain experience and aid in the COVID-19 response.
Grad students serve up help at UW Food Pantry
As the pandemic has increased food insecurity and a shortage of food bank volunteers, UW graduate students are helping to ensure that Huskies don’t go hungry.
Protecting vulnerable seniors
Infectious-disease experts from UW Medicine and Global Health are volunteering at senior facilities where COVID-19 has been detected, helping with on-site testing and prevention.
UW Together: Haring Center hosts child care for UW Medical staff
The UW’s Haring Center for Inclusive Education has worked quickly to provide quality emergency child care for medical personnel — supporting critical staff on the frontlines of the pandemic.
Alumni launch campaign to support small business
The Pledge 1200 campaign encourages Americans to spend stimulus checks at small businesses. Its co-founders include a trio of Foster School alums who wanted to make a difference in their communities.
Interdisciplinary innovation for PPE production
UW Medicine, Engineering, Allen School, GIX and Design that Matters are joining forces to make personal protective equipment for health-care workers.
U-District restaurants band together to support COVID-19 response
Up and down the Ave, local businesses are joining with the community to raise money for critical protective equipment and provide meals for health-care workers.
With their season cut short, skiers donate protective gear
UW medical student and avid skier Aaron Robertson may be missing the slopes, but he’s making a difference — helping get ski goggles to doctors in need of protective eyewear.
Young scholars make it easy to track COVID-19 locally
Two 16-year-old students at the UW’s Robinson Center for Young Scholars launched a tool that texts daily COVID-19 updates, localized based on your area code. Their next project: a mobile screening tool.
Husky community rallies to support COVID-19 response
A broad network of Huskies has jumped into action to support health-care workers and the whole community in a time of need.
UW alums harness biz to send health-care workers ‘bits of buzz’
Chocolatiers Sam Tanner, ’16, and Peter Keckemet, ’16 — and their customers — are partnering to ship cases of chocolate to health-care workers across the country.
Fashion designer sources surgical masks from around the globe
In less than a week, Luly Yang, ’90, sourced 20,000 surgical masks for hospitals in need — and she’s on a quest to track down hundreds of thousands more.
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UW scientists rally together to process tests
UW Medicine produced its own COVID-19 tests to make up for the national shortage, but it ran into another challenge: processing them. An outpouring of UW scientists stepped up to help — from lab techs to postdocs to graduate students.
Feeding families in need
When restaurants were shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19, chef Melissa Miranda, ’07, knew she could make a difference. She began using her restaurant’s kitchen to make meals for kids and families in need.
UW astronomer sets sights on medical supplies
When Julianne Dalcanton, chair of the UW Astronomy Department, saw health-care workers facing a shortage of protective equipment, she set about tracking down hundreds of masks to donate.