On Friday, June 11, the Department of Global Health (DGH) honored the Class of 2021 with a virtual graduation celebration. During the annual event, the 14th since the department was founded in 2007, speakers acknowledged the unique challenges and opportunities of the previous year, particularly for students entering the field of global health. 

When Ana Gervassi went into panic mode forty-five minutes before the General Examinations for her doctoral degree, there was only one thing she could think to do. She went to the office of her faculty mentor, Lee Ann Campbell, a professor of global health and the director of the Interdisciplinary Pathobiology Program at the University of Washington.

The Department of Global Health (DGH) has released its 2020 annual report. Themed “Transforming Health for a Better World,” the report acknowledges the significant impact of COVID-19 on both the department and the whole field of public health.

Online education manager Anya Nartker has been selected to receive the 2021 University of Washington Department of Global Health (DGH) Outstanding Staff Award. In further recognition of her instrumental contributions to the success of DGH during a year like no other, Anya also received the UW School of Public Health (SPH) Anderson-O’Connell Award for Outstanding Staff Service, presented at the virtual SPH Awards of Excellence ceremony on June 2, 2021. 

Every year, the University of Washington Department of Global Health (DGH) honors three exceptional graduate students who demonstrate a strong commitment to the field of global health. In addition to these departmental honorees, DGH nominates two candidates to the Gilbert S. Omenn Award, the School of Public Health’s most prestigious recognition for students. Awardees and nominees are selected based on a combination of academic excellence, impactful interdisciplinary research, and collaborations with local and global partners.

Dr. Jay Kravitz was passionate about pitching in. His understated but unrelenting commitment to caring for others fueled a prolific five-decade career in medicine and public health that led Dr. Kravitz around the world – to Ethiopia in famine, to the Thai-Cambodia border during the Khmer Rouge campaign, to Mexico City after an earthquake, and to Lesotho during the AIDS epidemic.