Health Equity

The University of Washington Population Health Initiative has awarded COVID-19 population health equity research grants to three projects involving partnerships between UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and community leaders.

Editor's note: In January 2022, Anna Humphreys and colleagues, including DEOHS Assistant Professor Nicole Errett, published a paper in BMC Public Health on the impacts of rural wildfire smoke on mental health and well-being, and opportunities for adaptation.

 

  Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York’s Central Park, once called trees the lungs of the city. Trees and shrubs filter a variety of air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter. But could they also benefit communities near airports by absorbing harmful ultrafine particles from aircraft exhaust?

Early in his career, Noah Seixas spent six months working on the assembly line of a rifle manufacturer in Massachusetts “to see what life was like on the line in a dirty, crappy factory.”

Given the extraordinary challenges of this year’s pandemic, the students of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) needed a superhero. Watch a student video honoring Nicole Errett

This spring, the first group of undergraduates to complete the UW Nutritional Sciences Program’s Food Systems, Nutrition and Health major are taking the knowledge they’ve acquired and applying it to help their communities.

Magali Blanco and Gabino Abarca from the University of Washington School of Public Health were selected to take part in the inaugural Latino Center for Health Student Scholars Fellowship program.

 

Sumaya Aden BS, Environmental Health Hometown Federal Way, WA Future plans Going to medical school after graduation in 2021 “I like seeing how things happen and why and the data behind it.” - Sumaya Aden

Each spring, seasonal farmworkers arrive in the Pacific Northwest for the planting season. This year, they’ve been met with a public health emergency.

Women who experience high employment precarity prior to or during pregnancy have a 48% higher risk of delivering low-birth-weight infants than women with low employment precarity, according to a study from researchers at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Ola i ka Wai. Water is life. Tyler Gerken MS, Environmental Health Hometown: Kea’au, Hawai’i Island, HI Future plans: A career in the US Public Health Service, perhaps as an environmental health officer for the National Park Service or the Indian Health Service

Read the news release about Baker's study

Ensuring that all people have access to healthy food is a challenge in the best of times, but it has become even more daunting during the current pandemic.

Water is essential for life, but in communities with inadequate sanitation, it can also spread diseases like polio, typhoid and hepatitis A. By monitoring wastewater and water sources contaminated by wastewater for pathogens in fecal matter, researchers and public health workers can help stop waterborne illnesses in their tracks.

How did Esther Min, a graduate student in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), end up at a six-hour-long dinner in Kyrgyzstan?

Rural children with asthma whose homes have an indoor air cleaner are 72% less likely to have an unplanned clinic or hospital visit than children in homes with no air cleaners, according to a study from the University of Washington and partners in the Yakima Valley.

Read more about the School of Public Health’s role with the Population Health Initiative in the new UW Public Health magazine.

Communities underneath and downwind of jets landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are exposed to a type of ultrafine particle pollution that is distinctly associated with aircraft, according to a new University of Washington study that is the first to identify the unique "signature" of aircraft emissions in Washington state.

Female farmworkers experience workplace sexual harassment at rates that are two to three times higher than in other sectors, according to recent studies.

According to the analysis, “strategic investments in a coordinated global-pandemics initiative would likely have a return ratio of between $17 and $20 on every $1 spent.” Curbing pandemics might also address shared global challenges, such as gender and social inequalities, and support climate adaptation and mitigation.

Babies born today will face unprecedented health risks and life-long health consequences from rising temperatures, according to new research published Wednesday from The Lancet.

Scientists and health professionals are rushing to assess the health effects of vaping amid a multistate outbreak of lung injuries associated with the use of e-cigarettes. Teachers could play a critical role in helping youth understand the health risks, yet little formal guidance or training for educators currently exists.

Maria Blancas, a UW PhD student and staff member in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), will receive the 2019 Bullitt Environmental Prize for her work with immigrant farmworkers in Washington.

DEOHS Associate Professor Jeremy Hess Researchers from the University of Washington are teaming up with the Swinomish Tribe to evaluate strategies the Swinomish are using to adapt to climate change.

The UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) is celebrating the 57 new graduates who received their degrees this weekend. DEOHS Chair Michael Yost presided over a Friday ceremony at Foege Auditorium honoring the students, who earned Bachelor of Science, Master of Public Health, Master of Science and PhD degrees.

Before she was a food systems and sustainability expert, Yona Sipos was a video jockey for MTV Canada. Between interviews with celebrities like Avril Lavigne and music videos for Outkast's Hey Ya!, Sipos talked to her teenage audience about science—everything from how to plant an urban garden to cool science experiments to do at home.

Two undergraduate students in the University of Washington School of Public Health are being honored as part of this year’s Husky 100 based on their work with the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) Center at the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Science

Richard Fenske, PhD, MPH Associate Chair and Professor, UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Proudest achievement: The contributions his students have made to the field of environmental health. Joined DEOHS faculty: 1991