Céline​ Gounder, MD, has been appointed to President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 task force. She is a UW School of Medicine graduate and is among the first cohort of UW Global Health medical students; she helped initiate the UW SOM International Health Group, establishing what are now the Dept.

First-generation students are typically defined as first in their family to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Being a first generation student, who doesn't have a family history of higher education, takes courage and determination and is an identity to be proud of. 

Joseph Babigumira, MBChB, MS, PhD, has left his position as associate professor in the Department of Global Health, after nine years of service to his students, peer faculty and staff. Joseph has been an important contributor to the School of Public Health and the wider University of Washington community since he arrived in 2006 as a PhD student in the School of Pharmacy.  Over the years, he has touched many of us with his thoughtfulness, sincerity, quiet activism and dry wit – we will miss him greatly.

Jake Ellison, UW News

When a vaccine to fight COVID-19 has been approved by the FDA for distribution, it’s unlikely that at first there will be enough doses for everyone. Consequently, the United States will need an equitable and effective plan for who gets those first doses, how they get them and who’s next.

Just as important, that plan — like the vaccine itself — has to be trusted and accepted by the general public.