Judd Walson, a University of Washington professor of Global Health, Medicine, and Pediatrics, recently received $621,029 in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a research grant focused on the development of a molecular diagnostic platform for the detection of soil transmitted helminths (STH), commonly known as parasitic worms. Investigators will use these methods to support a large, multi-country, randomized trial evaluating the feasibility of interrupting STH transmission through expanded mass drug administration.

Dr. Benjamin Anderson and Dr. Jillian Pintye were both recently recognized by the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA) with a pair of awards. Winners were selected by a panel of global health experts chaired by Erin McCarthy, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and WGHA board member. Anderson, a professor of Global Health, earned the Pioneers Award for Impact. Pintye, an Assistant Professor Global Health, received the Pioneers Rising Leader honor. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2019 marked the 12th Department of Global Health graduation since the department’s founding in 2007. This year’s celebration saw a record number of students, as 74 students received their degrees, up from last year’s total of 56. Of the 74 graduates in the Class of 2019, 62 received Masters in Public Health and 12 earned PhDs in Global Health Implementation Science, Global Health Metrics, or Pathobiology.

Mina Halpern’s interest in global health issues began when she worked as a peer educator at Planned Parenthood while attending high school in Olympia. She says this experience sparked a passion for the field of HIV, eventually leading her to the University of Washington, where she graduated with a Master’s in Public Health in 2006.