Graduation Photo Gallery | Graduation Recording | Digital Graduation Program 

On Friday, June 13, the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health (DGH) proudly celebrated the graduation of 58 students from over 15 countries.  

These 58 graduates represented three doctoral and one master’s program: 

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.

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.

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

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.

An intense heatwave in June and July killed 2300 people across London and 11 other European cities, a death toll that was nearly tripled by climate change. While it can take months to determine the impact of climate change on heat deaths, scientists have now developed a method to do this quickly.

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.

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. 

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."

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.