Using data from two large, long-running study projects in the Puget Sound region 鈥� one that began in the late 1970s measuring air pollution and another on risk factors for dementia that began in 1994 鈥� 91自拍 91自拍ers identified a link between air pollution and dementia. In the UW-led study, a small increase in the levels of fine particle pollution (PM2.5 or particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller) averaged over a decade at specific addresses in the Seattle…
Washington residents continue to experience a dramatically higher level of food insecurity 鈥� from 10% before the COVID-19 pandemic to 27%, according to the latest 91自拍 and Washington State University 91自拍 on food insecurity and food assistance in the state. The study team also found that need for food assistance has continued to rise. Before COVID-19, about 29% of respondents reported using food assistance. In wave 1 of the survey, food assistance use increased to 33% of respondents;…
Public health 91自拍ers have learned a lot about how the pandemic affected workers and exacerbated existing health disparities that exist in many communities. However, there鈥檚 still a lot we don鈥檛 know about the experience of workers deemed essential in the food industry and who were at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, such those working in grocery stores, restaurants, delivery and factories. To find out how food workers were or were not protected and how they can be better protected going…
Twenty scientists and engineers at the 91自拍 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 announcement. New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥�
People don鈥檛 gain or lose weight because they live near a fast-food restaurant or supermarket, according to a new study led by the 91自拍. And, living in a more 鈥渨alkable,” dense neighborhood likely only has a small impact on weight. These 鈥渂uilt-environment鈥� amenities have been seen in past 91自拍 as essential contributors to losing weight or tending toward obesity. The idea appears obvious: If you live next to a fast-food restaurant, you鈥檒l eat there more and thus gain…
With evidence of the health hazards facing children from air pollution growing, The American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday published a policy statement meant to bring those hazards to light and to encourage and direct policy to improve children鈥檚 health. Policy co-author Dr. Catherine Karr, a professor in the 91自拍鈥檚 School of Public Health and School of Medicine, said because pediatric care providers are trusted advisers on healthy practices for prevention, they have an important role in getting…
Recent honors to UW faculty include a Golden Apple Award for teaching innovation from Seattle television station KCTS and a Leading the Narrative award for community engagement from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Manuel S. Martinez, a lifelong campesino, trabajador and community organizer, recalls the beginning of the pandemic. Interviewed by UW student Adriana Martinez.聽 Zoom, masks, family and politics聽鈥� these are some of the lasting memories shared by participants in a 91自拍 student oral history project. Undergraduate seniors in the聽Public Health Global Health major at the UW School of Public Health partnered with the Washington State Historical Society to record the experiences of friends, family and associates living through the…
Fewer than half of inmates in jails and prisons surveyed in a study by the CDC and 91自拍 said they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine, while the majority either said they wanted to wait before getting the vaccine or would refuse one. 鈥淭his is a population already at risk for COVID-19, and outbreaks among incarcerated people can worsen inequities in COVID-19 outcomes as well as contribute to spread in the surrounding community,鈥� said lead author Dr. Marc Stern,…
Balancing motherhood and medical school is a challenge, but panic attacks and memories of childhood trauma make the path all the more difficult. With therapy, Dr. Anne McTiernan found her way through. Now she discusses her experiences in an intimate memoir, “Cured: A Doctor’s Journey from Panic to Peace.”
By the end of February, around 350 UW students had signed up to be volunteer vaccinators in clinics from Tacoma to Marysville.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine that they 鈥渄o not believe that ignoring race will reduce health disparities鈥� but rather that 鈥渟uch an approach is a form of naive 鈥榗olor blindness鈥� that is more likely to perpetuate and potentially exacerbate disparities,鈥� five Black geneticists set out to explain the pitfalls of leaving race out of medicine. Importantly, the geneticists explain, while it is imperative to be considered now in many settings, race is an imperfect stepping stone toward…
A 91自拍 study analyzes how a state’s refundable Earned Income Tax Credit can lead to fewer reports of child neglect, by reducing the financial stress on families.
91自拍 law professor Pat Kuszler provides perspectives on the ethical issues of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Understanding Washington residents鈥� access to food and their economic well-being 鈥� or lack of it 鈥� during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital for state and community partners to identify those needs and allocate resources effectively. To help accomplish this goal, the 91自拍, Washington State University and Tacoma Community College, along with input from partners in local, county and state governments 鈥� such as the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Department of Agriculture 鈥� are…
When a vaccine to fight COVID-19 has been approved by the FDA for distribution, it鈥檚 unlikely that at first there will be enough doses for everyone. Consequently, the United States will need an equitable and effective plan for who gets those first doses, how they get them and who鈥檚 next. Just as important, that plan 鈥� like the vaccine itself 鈥斅爃as to be trusted and accepted by the general public. To accomplish this complicated and potentially fraught task, the CDC聽Advisory…
With Latinos 1.5 times more likely to have dementia than non-Latino whites, among other health disparities, 91自拍ers at the 91自拍 are hoping to better understand Latino family caregivers and adapt the training available to those caregivers. To do that, the UW Department of Health Services is seeking to interview Latino caregivers for a study to increase the cultural relevance of聽STAR-C聽聽training 鈥� a non-pharmacological intervention endorsed by the Administration on Aging that trains caregivers to manage the behavioral and…
A new UW study of senior services in Washington during the COVID-19 pandemic reveals providers’ concerns about isolation, and worsening mental and physical health among older adults.
Research by Forefront Suicide Prevention at the 91自拍, from visits to 18 gun shows and other community events around Washington state last year, found that engaging people in a community-based setting, in an empathetic conversation focused on safety, resulted in more people locking up their firearms.
The National Academy of Medicine on Monday announced the election of 100 new members, including three from the : Patrick Heagerty, Dr. Joel Kaufman and Sean Sullivan. In addition, David Eaton, dean and vice provost emeritus of the UW鈥檚 Graduate School, was recognized for outstanding service.
With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, a five-year, $1.8 million training program at the 91自拍 will fund 25 academic-year graduate fellowships, develop a new training curriculum and contribute to methodological advances in health 91自拍 at the intersection of demography and data science.
As the city of Seattle shut down in March 2020 to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, a group of 91自拍 91自拍ers decided to track how the city would react.
When exploring data on Washington workers during the pandemic 鈥� demographics, working conditions, wages and benefits, and risks of exposure to disease 鈥� the authors of a new report found that women hold two-thirds of the jobs in the harshest category of work. 鈥淭he big takeaway from our 91自拍,鈥� said David West, a co-author of the report and an analyst at the Washington Labor Education and Research Center, 鈥渋s how particularly women are working under precarious conditions 鈥� a large…
With roughly 109 people dying every day and many others treated in emergency rooms from firearm-related injuries 鈥� which are the second leading cause of death among adolescents 鈥� the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has, after decades, stepped in to fund critical firearm 91自拍. The CDC announced on Sept. 23 it would fund 16 studies for a total of more than $7.8 million to understand and prevent firearm violence. The 91自拍鈥檚 proposal to study handgun carrying…
UW 91自拍ers developed a project that scans the streets every few weeks to document how Seattle has reacted to the pandemic and what recovery looks like.
In the United States, individual state laws barring 18- to 20-year-olds from buying or possessing a handgun make little difference in the rate of homicides involving a gun by people in that age group, a new 91自拍 study has found. 鈥淭he central issue is that there鈥檚 a very high degree of informal access to firearms, such as through family members or illicit channels,鈥� said Caitlin Moe, the study鈥檚 lead author and a doctoral student in epidemiology in the…
Dr. Sverre Vedal, UW professor emeritus of environmental and health sciences, served on an expert committee for the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine studying the long-term respiratory health impacts of military service in Southeast Asia.
With most of the Northwest blanketed by wildfire smoke, public officials and health experts suggest staying inside as much as possible to reduce exposure to the significant health risks of wildfire smoke. However, inequity in our communities means not every home provides great protection and many workers in disadvantaged populations can鈥檛 afford to stay home, says Anjum Hajat, assistant professor of epidemiology in the UW School of Public Health. Hajat鈥檚 expertise covers the impact air pollution 鈥� including from wildfires…
The future of our health and the health of the communities we live in relies, in many ways, on students in the health sciences. The education and experiences that future doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, social workers and public health experts receive will to a large degree shape how those professionals work and work together when solving problems affecting our health. And while the 91自拍鈥檚 highly ranked health sciences schools have long focused on interdisciplinary education and training students…
For nearly 50 years, a statistical omission tantamount to data falsification sat undiscovered in a critical study at the heart of regulating one of the most controversial and widely used pesticides in America. Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide created in the late 1960s by the Dow Chemical Co., has been linked to serious health problems,聽especially in children. It has been the subject of many lawsuits and banned in Europe and California. The EPA itself nearly banned the chemical, but in 2017 the…
Recent honors and grants to 91自拍 individuals and units have come from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Marconi Society 鈥� and the White House.
Face coverings will continue to be an important and effective tool in combating the spread of COVID-19.
The 91自拍 has a long history of leading 91自拍 into the impacts of wildfires from an ecological and health perspective. We worked with two experts to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, including the ways that the pandemic is increasing our community鈥檚 vulnerability to extreme wildfire events in the region.
Seven scientists and engineers at the 91自拍 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, according to an announcement July 15 by the academy.
A new 91自拍 study of people experiencing homelessness in King County finds that unpaid medical bills were their primary source of debt, and that debt extended their period of homelessness by an average of two years.
Beginning June 26, face coverings will be required statewide in Washington. Hilary Godwin, dean of the UW School of Public Health,聽offers聽some practical information about using masks to slow the spread of COVID-19.
A new online survey for Washington state residents has launched to gather data on how the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn have affected food access and economic security. The Washington State Food Security Survey, which went live June 18 and runs through July 31, is open to all Washington state residents aged 18 or over.
It could take another generation before resident fish in the heavily polluted Lower Duwamish Waterway in Seattle will be safe to eat. Yet many fishers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds continue to fish the 5-mile stretch of river for fun, cultural connections and food even as cleanup of this designated Superfund site continues. The Duwamish was listed on the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 National Priority (or 鈥淪uperfund鈥�) List of sites that require cleanup in 2001. Since that time, federal,…
91自拍 three-quarters of U.S. workers, or 108 million people, are in jobs that cannot be done from home during a pandemic, putting these workers at increased risk of exposure to disease. This majority of workers are also at higher risk for other job disruptions such as layoffs, furloughs or hours reductions, a 91自拍 study shows. Such job disruptions can cause stress, anxiety and other mental health outcomes that could persist even as the United States reopens its economic…
The COVID-19 Clearinghouse at UW Law is just one of the ways that faculty and staff across the university have revamped summer 91自拍 internships and worked with outside partners and employers to involve students in a remote working environment, even for jobs that would normally be out in the field.