Department News
Global Mentorship and Interdisciplinary Research: Recognizing Two DGH Faculty Members
In the Department of Global Health faculty are dedicated to improving health for all through their research, teaching, and service to the university and our partners around the world. In recognition of their exemplary work at the University of Washington and beyond, two Department of Global Health faculty members, Drs. Kenneth Mugwanya, associate professor, and Julianne Meisner, assistant professor, have been awarded endowed appointments which will support them in advancing innovative teaching, research, and community engagement in DGH and beyond.
Top Teachers - And now the story of the educators who won everything.
Associate Professor of the UW Global Health Department, Jason Daniel-Ulloa, earns the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award, the UW’s highest teaching honor, among several other star faculty.
2025 DGH Staff Awards
Every year, we take the time to recognize outstanding staff for their dedication and many contributions to our department. Criteria for selecting outstanding staff included superior service, resourcefulness, innovation, creativity, excellence, integrity, and a commitment to creating and sustaining a climate of equity, justice, and anti-racism. Congratulations to all nominees!
DGH Outstanding Staff Award Recipient and SPH Anderson-O'Connell Award for Outstanding Staff Service
Lisa Nonzee
Senior HR Manager
2025 UW Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Winners
Kevin Jiang, a recent Ph.D. graduate in Bioengineering, took First Place at this year’s University of Washington’s Three Minute Thesis (UW 3MT) Competition. Grace Umutesi, a Ph.D. student in Global Health Metrics & Implementation Science, was named Runner-Up and earned the People’s Choice Award.
Arianna Means shares why preventing childhood illnesses is imperative for global health
“We have so many evidence-based interventions to reduce child mortality that are inexpensive, and that are unequivocally effective,” Means said. “It's really about getting those interventions to the right people in the right places. That is our challenge.”
In the Media
RFK Jr. fires ‘Washingtonian of the year’ from CDC vaccine panel
Adjunct Professor of Global Health, Helen Chu, went through two years of a rigorous application process to apply to one of the country’s top vaccine advisory panels at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last July, she began what she thought would be a four-year term with the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. But less than a year later and via a brief and vague email, Chu was abruptly dismissed. The June 9 email didn’t specify why, she said.
Ousted CDC vaccine adviser says RFK Jr.’s message is clear: ‘Scientific expertise is no longer of use’
Adjunct Professor of Global Health, Helen Chu, went through a multiyear process to finally gain a seat on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccines experts panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. She and the rest of her colleagues on the ACIP were summarily terminated.
We need a new model of global health aid
Department of Global Health Professor, James Pfeiffer, weighs in on recent cuts to federal aid funding: "The Trump administration's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development and other aid funding for global health are cruel and catastrophic."
Premier climate study frozen by Trump administration as researchers get the boot
The Trump administration has put the nation’s most comprehensive climate study on hold and told hundreds of scientists working on it that their services are no longer needed.
Washingtonians are buying chickens to get around high egg prices. Is it worth it?
Peter Rabinowitz, the director of The Center for One Health Research at the University of Washington, which investigates disease between animals and humans, weighs in on this growing trend.