News
October 12, 2020
Meet Global WACh’s Fall Quarter Research Assistants
Categories: students
Every quarter, UW graduate student research assistants get involved in our projects to develop standard operating procedures, support the participant recruitment process, and conduct data collection and analysis activities that are crucial to the success of the study design, process, and outcomes. These opportunities allow student researchers to learn about the institutional research landscape, and to develop academic depth and skills in their chosen discipline. Meet the students working on Global WACh’s research portfolio this fall!
September 28, 2020
Dr. Sarah Benki-Nugent with UW and University of Nairobi collaborators receive award to build environmental health research capacity in Kenya
Categories: Awards, Children, HIV and Co-Infections
There is very little data on air pollution exposures in sub-Saharan Africa, and even less is known about the impact of this important exposure on early childhood brain development. Dr. Sarah-Benki (Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Health) and a multi-disciplinary team of maternal-child health researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Nairobi lead the Kenya Healthy Home Healthy Brain Project (KHHOP), a research partnership focused on the impact of environmental pollutants on child neurodevelopment in urban Kenya. (more…)
September 16, 2020
Dr. Keshet Ronen and the Somali Health Board partner to increase COVID-19 testing equity in King County, WA
Categories: Awards, COVID-19, Research
Congratulation to Dr. Keshet Ronen (Acting Assistant Professor, Global Health) and Dr. Ahmed Ali (Executive Director, Somali Health Board) for receiving a COVID-19 Population Health Equity Grant from the University of Washington to increase access to COVID-19 testing among the Somali community in King County, WA. Led in partnership with the Somali Health Board, a Somali-led grassroots organization, this project aims to understand barriers to testing in this heavily impacted community and identify approaches to improve health equity in King County’s testing strategy. (more…)
August 26, 2020
Dr. Irene Njuguna receives NIH Emerging Global Leader Award to support HIV+ adolescents thrive in schools
Categories: Awards, HIV, Research, Schools
Congratulations to Dr. Irene Njuguna (Pediatric Infectious Disease Resarcher, Kenyatta National Hospital) for receiving a National Institutes of Health K43 Emerging Global Leader Award! Dr. Njuguna is currently involved in multiple University of Nairobi-Global WACh collaborative studies focused on pediatric and adolescent HIV. This five-year award supports her growing research career in this field. The new study titled “Understanding the role of schools in supporting HIV treatment outcomes among HIV infected adolescents,” — also known as TIMIZA, the Swahili word for “achieve” – focuses on the role of schools in supporting HIV treatment for adolescents in Kenya. (more…)
August 11, 2020
Tikhala Itaye, Global WACh Certificate student, in summer internship to aid gender equity strategies
Categories: Certificate Program, students
This summer, Tikhala Itaye, a MPH Global Health and Global WACh Certificate student, began an internship with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). As a Summer Associate, Tikhala is supporting the Foundation’s Gender Equality Special Initiative (GESI) team to deepen an understanding of how existing program investments and activities affect or are affected by gender-based violence (GBV)—one of the most widespread human rights abuses that disproportionately affects girls and women. Ending gender inequality in all forms is one of the World Health Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tikhala’s efforts will provide strategic direction on integrating GBV prevention and response across the Foundation’s program cycle and investments. (more…)
Q&A with Emily Robson: Perspectives as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic
Categories: Certificate Program, COVID-19, students
University of Washington students are rising to the occasion to care for the most vulnerable populations during Seattle’s COVID-19 outbreak. One of these students is Emily Robson, an incoming 2nd year Doctorate of Nurse Practice student in the Population Health Nursing Track and Global WACh Graduate Certificate student. Emily is spending her summer as a full-time Registered Nurse at King County Public Health’s COVID-19 Isolation/Quarantine Centers. These sites provide supervised care to symptomatic or COVID-positive individuals who cannot quarantine or recover in their own home, or do not have a home. These spaces support the community by providing a place of care and slow the spread of the virus to others.
We asked Emily to share her experience as an Isolation/Quarantine nurse and the lessons learned as she courageously and compassionately works on the frontlines of a public health emergency.
August 5, 2020
Virtual on-boarding during the pandemic: Introducing new staff members
Categories: COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Global Health and Global WACh transitioned to a remote workforce starting in March 2020 at the recommendation of public health officials. The pandemic has not shaken our Center’s commitment to improving the health and well-being of women, adolescents, and children, thus we continued with our hiring plans virtually and onboarded critical supportive roles to move our research forward. Get to know the new five new staff members below!
August 3, 2020
Newly launched COVID MITS study aims to improve understanding of COVID-19 immunopathogenesis in Malawi
Categories: COVID-19, Gut Health and Child Survival
Dr. Donna Denno, Professor
Sarah Lawrence, Research Coordinator
Dr. Donna Denno, Professor of Pediatrics and Global Health and the Associate Director of Pediatrics for Global WACh, is a co-investigator of a new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launching in August 2020. The study titled “MITS for lung pathology and immune response in fatal COVID-19 in Malawi (MITS COVID)” is a one-year project conducted in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, University of Malawi College of Medicine, University of Amsterdam, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Blantyre Malaria Project, and University of Manchester. Global WACh Research Coordinator, Sarah Lawrence, will also support this investigatory effort. Building upon the platform established in the Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling (MITS) in Malawi study (Co-PI: Denno), the team will address knowledge gaps on immune responses against COVID-19 that drive severe diseases in vital organs, particularly in the lung. (more…)
July 30, 2020
Can schools reopen safely during a pandemic? Dr. Brandon Guthrie discusses other countries’ reopening strategies and lessons learned
Since May 2020, the COVID-19 Literature Situation Report, an initiative led by the UW MetaCenter for Pandemic Preparedness and Global Health Security and START Center focused on the needs of public health professionals in Washington State, has released daily newsletters that provide a succinct summary of the latest scientific literature related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind the scenes, Drs. Brandon Guthrie and Jennifer Ross of the Department of Global Health are leading a team of faculty and students from the Schools of Public Health and Medicine to release these reports every day. The report includes brief, concise summarizes of 10-15 articles that they judge to have the highest public health relevance, along with additional links to pertinent commentaries and other resources.
In July, the team compiled a list of countries and their school reopening strategies for the WA State Department of Health. As school districts across the U.S. struggle with how, or even if, to reopen schools in time for the new academic year, these reports offer lessons learned from other countries that may inform plans for school reopening. (more…)
July 29, 2020
Dr. Patty Pavlinac receives NIH R01 grant to explore the roles of enteric pathogens and antimicrobial resistance to improve child health outcomes in SSA
Categories: Children, Gut Health and Child Survival, Research
Children hospitalized with severe illness in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are at high risk of morbidity and mortality following discharge from hospital, but mechanisms driving this vulnerability are poorly understood and there are no recommended interventions specifically targeting the post-discharge period. Dr. Patty Pavlinac, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health and Co-Director of Global WACh’s Gut Health and Child Survival Priority Area, is the Principal Investigator of a newly awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant to explore the mechanisms underlying this risk, including how azithromycin—an antibiotic commonly used to treat pediatric infections—affects children’s health and nutritional outcomes in SSA. The findings will inform the development of interventions to reduce the risk of death, re-hospitalization, and growth faltering following hospitalizations among this vulnerable group of children.
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