Liberia was in the midst of a devastating Ebola outbreak when Bernice Dahn, the country's chief medical officer, went to visit her ailing special assistant at his home on Sept. 20, 2014. When the 55-year-old father of eight died from the disease less than a week later, Dahn put herself into quarantine for 21 days. She kept her constituency aware of her situation, as well as many from her cohort at the University of Washington. Dahn, now Liberia's minister of health, has been fulfilling her vision to build a resilient health system by deploying thousands more community health workers.

The Pisacano Leadership Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), recently selected Brianne Huffstetler Rowan, 4th year medical student at the UW School of Medicine, as one of their 2016 Pisacano Scholars. These 5 scholars and medical students follow in the footsteps of 103 scholar alumni who are practicing physicians and 20 current scholars who are enrolled in medical schools or family medicine residency programs across the country.

Patricia Garcia, minister of health of Peru, School of Public Health alum, and Affiliate Professor of Global Health was elected to the National Academy of Medicine earlier this month. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Garcia was one of nine international members elected, in addition to 70 domestic members.

Jeremy Taiwo is one of 550 people competing this year on the U.S. Olympic team. The games get underway Friday night in Rio. Based in Seattle, and a former student of Latin American studies and global health at the University of Washington, Taiwo will be competing in the decathlon, one of the most physically challenging events of the Olympics. Athletes must perform in ten different track and field events, including running, jumping, pole vault, javelin, and discus.