The Tukwila Food Pantry has been a lifeline for many South King County residents who have lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Like many local food banks, it saw a surge in demand. It went from serving 50 households a
News | August 22, 2019
‘Hidden’ data exacerbates rural public health inequities
Differences in the health of rural residents compared to their urban neighbors are startling. In Washington, for instance, rural residents are one-third more likely to die from intentional self-harm or 13 percent more likely to die from heart disease.
However, …
News | September 7, 2021
2021 Urban@UW Spark Grants awardees announced
Urban@UW is excited to announce awardees for the second round of funding through our Spark Grants program. The two projects selected address critical urban challenges, with a focus on transdisciplinary scholarship and engagement with vulnerable populations.
Water, Sanitation, …
Scholar
Amy Hagopian
Visit scholar websiteScholar
Barbara Baquero
Visit scholar websiteCourse | HSERV 479
Black Lives and Police Violence: Racism and the Public’s Health
The effects of racism on health are profound and multi-dimensional. Critically analyzes theories of human behavior in relation to epidemiological concepts of race, against the backdrop of the current Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.Scholar
Caleb Banta-Green
Visit scholar websiteNews | August 10, 2021
Co-designing a technology intervention to support the health and development of children
The King County’s 2018-2019 Community Needs Assessment revealed that infants from racially and economically marginalized groups encounter the highest rates of infant mortality and lowest birth weights compared to any other population.
King County has offered developmental screening services and …
Course | HSERV 345
Community Health Assessment
Introduces role of assessment in planning for community health improvement through health promotion activities. Considers determinants of health; methods to find, collect, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data; interpret findings to describe the health resources, risks, and outcomes; role of assessment in identifying health disparities and patterns of health inequities.Course | HSERV 531
COPHP Population Health and Community Development
Population Health considers social and other factors that determine health. The course challenges dominate views of health. We compare health in the United States with other countries. In Community Development, we learn asset-based community engagement. Students work directly with community members, advocates, and service organizations to address health issues.Course | HSERV 488
Dark Empire: Race, Health, and British Society – Abroad
Explores factors responsible for the well-being and health of black and other racial/ethnic minorities in Britain. Addresses: the National Health Service; ethnic diaspora, anti-immigration laws; urban riots; inequality, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and Islamophobia. Conducted in Britain.News | April 7, 2020
Data suggests coronavirus is disproportionately affecting Black communities in the US
Preliminary demographic data – where available — and early anecdotal evidence suggest that poor African-Americans are contracting and dying from the coronavirus in disproportionate rates.
In the state of Michigan, while blacks represent only 12% of the total population, they …
Scholar
Derek Jennings
Visit scholar websiteNews | July 8, 2019
Drug-related deaths continue to rise in King County
Drug-related deaths have continued to climb in King County, with fatal overdoses involving methamphetamine and fentanyl on the rise, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County.
King County, like cities across the country, have focused their efforts on …
News | April 8, 2024
Earthquake showed Taiwan was well prepared for a big one — more so than parts of U.S.
Originally reported by Evan Bush for NBC News.
The powerful earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday shook an island that was well prepared for a seismic catastrophe — likely more so than some regions of the U.S., several experts said.…
Scholar
Elena Austin
Visit scholar websiteNews | September 18, 2020
Food insecurity rates have more than doubled since start of COVID-19 pandemic
Since the onset of the pandemic, food insecurity rates have more than doubled in our state. That’s according to researchers at the University of Washington who have just compiled the results from their first round of a statewide survey.
It …
News | June 25, 2016
Good food, not gone to waste
UW School of Public Health works with city to combat hunger, reduce discards
Forty percent of food in the United States—much of it healthy and edible—goes uneaten. It ends up in landfills and produces methane emissions that are 25 times …
Scholar
Janet Baseman
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Jonathan Mayer
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Katie Wilson
Visit scholar websiteNews | July 16, 2020
Opportunities to engage UW faculty and students to address COVID-19
In recognition of the intense needs of local governments around COVID-19 response and recovery, the LCY program has compiled a list of existing UW courses whose faculty and students are seeking to assist local communities in COVID-related projects. Most projects …
News | May 5, 2020
Population Health Initiative announces award of 21 COVID-19 rapid response grants
The University of Washington Population Health Initiative announced the award of approximately $350,000 in COVID-19 rapid response grants to 21 different faculty-led teams. These teams are composed of individuals representing 10 different schools and colleges. Funding was partially matched by …
News | September 9, 2019
Project aims to boost care for opioid use among homeless
On August 21, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the University of Washington’s Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI) announced the Meds-First Initiative that expands an innovative approach to treating opioid-use disorder for high-acuity populations to four locations in …
News | October 19, 2022
Recently completed Spark Grants foster research on mobile home wastewater management, and estimating unhoused populations
Over the past year, two teams of researchers from the University of Washington tackled a host of urban challenges in our region with the support of Urban@UW’s Spark Grants. In September 2021 grants of up to $20,000 were awarded …
News | July 22, 2022
Seattle’s soda tax benefits low-income communities, study finds
A new study concludes that Seattle’s soda tax isn’t disproportionately harming lower-income families — and is actually benefiting lower-income households as a group. University of Washington researchers analyzed sugary drink purchases across more than 1,100 households in Philadelphia, San Francisco …
News | December 9, 2015
SPH Faculty Tap into New UW Effort to Create More Livable Cities
A new University of Washington initiative is thinking “upstream” when it comes to creating safer, healthier and more livable cities.
Urban@UW aims to bring together UW faculty, staff and students from different disciplines with city decision-makers and citizens to wrestle …
News | May 26, 2020
SPH partners with state health department to reach vulnerable communities about COVID-19
What do communities most vulnerable to COVID-19 need to know about the disease, and what are the most effective methods for reaching them? These are questions a partnership between the University of Washington School of Public Health and the Washington …
Scholar
Stephanie Farquhar
Visit scholar websiteNews | July 15, 2019
Tacoma’s wastewater has the answers in a new cannabis study
Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound took samples from Tacoma’s wastewater plants from 2013 to 2016 and then analyzed those samples for THC levels. THC is the most common psychoactive chemical found in cannabis, …
Scholar
Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett
Visit scholar websiteCourse | GH 482 / HSERV 482
The Health of Populations
Explores what makes a population healthy or unhealthy. Examines why the United States is less healthy than all other rich countries, despite being one of the healthiest fifty years ago.News | October 12, 2020
This South King County church created a drive-thru food bank in response to the pandemic
…
News | June 9, 2020
To address health inequities, Black folks need the right to move without harm
On a crisp afternoon last fall, Douglas Pullen, a 69-year-old Black man, was nearly hit by a white driver during his daily walk through his Seattle neighborhood. Having witnessed this, Kate Hoerster, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences…
News | May 18, 2020
Traffic in Seattle area slowly returning
If you’ve left home, you’ve probably noticed.
A few more people are on the roads.
“We are seeing traffic slowly start to come back,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst for the traffic data company INRIX.
Pishue said as the COVID-19
News | February 16, 2024
Transit workers fight drugs on buses and trains
Written by Joseph Gallivan for Axios Oregon
Transit companies are pushing to make it a Class A misdemeanor to use drugs on buses and trains in Oregon.
TriMet, the Oregon Transit Association, and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 testified yesterday …
News | July 9, 2020
Trouble paying medical bills can lead to longer episodes of homelessness, new study shows
Even before the pandemic left COVID-19 patients with staggering hospital bills, many people, especially those who are uninsured, were often overwhelmed with medical bills.
And medical debt and housing instability often go hand in hand. In a new University of …
News | March 28, 2018
Urban Scholar Highlight: Josephine Ensign
Josephine Ensign is a Professor in University of Washington’s School of Nursing and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Affiliate Faculty in UW’s Certificate Program in Public Scholarship, and coordinator of Urban@UW’s Homelessness …
News | September 27, 2017
UW researchers analyze effects of minimum wage on seattle food prices
Affiliates UW Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Health Services Jennifer Otten (lead author), UW Professor at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance Jake Vigdor, and Evans School’s Associate Dean …
Scholar
Wendy Barrington
Visit scholar websiteNews | August 19, 2017
Why Architects should care about public health
Andrew Dannenberg, an Affiliate Professor at the School of Public Health and the College of Built Environments, writes about the importance of architects recognizing human health: while architects have long recognized the importance of human health —including physical, …