As part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE): A Plan for America initiative, the University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) received $1.2 million to fund five research projects. This initiative allocates funding to HIV research with the goal of reducing new infections in the United States by 90 percent by 2030.
From Myanmar and Mozambique to the US and Egypt, 90 participants from 22 countries around the world traveled to Seattle August 26-30 for the University of Washington Department of Global Health intensive summer course in The Fundamentals of Implementation Science in Global Health. The one-week course taught participants systematic approaches that can be used to bring research findings to on-the-ground settings, with the ultimate aim of improving health for people around the world.
Karin Huster encounters death up close, and repeatedly.
She has seen babies perish in their mothers’ arms. She has watched people grieve as their loved ones were buried in white body bags drenched in bleach. She has survived a clinic where she worked being attacked, burned and shot at.
“It’s the best job in the world,” she says. “And I don’t mean this lightly.”
Gabrielle O’Malley, an Associate Professor of Global Health and Director of Implementation Science for the International Training and Education Center (I-TECH), received a $4,394,756 award to continue strengthening human resources for health in Malawi for HIV epidemic control and improved health outcomes of people living with HIV (PLHIV).
The University of Washington/Fred Hutch Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) present the New Investigator Awards each year. These awards fund and support HIV and AIDS research by new, promising investigators early in their careers. The 2019 awards will allow Department of Global Health researchers, Kristin-Beima Sofie, Katrina Ortblad, and Arianna Means to study ways to empower caregivers of adolescents living with HIV, PrEP delivery by community pharmacies, and nutritional services for HIV-exposed children in Kenya.
Dr. Eteni Longondo (MPH, 2005) has been appointed head of the Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After studying medicine at the University of Kinshasa in his native DRC, Longondo received a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington.
In addition to his work with the Ministry of Public Health, Longondo's experience also includes working as a doctor for Congo's national soccer team, serving as a general practitioner in Switzerland, and work with World Vision and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
With a background that includes ESL teaching in Korea, social work, and health education for King County, Stephanie Edlund-Cho is the Program Operations Specialist for the Global Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children (Global WACh). In this role she creates opportunities for students, staff, and faculty alike while handling vital day-to-day operational tasks.
Q: How long have you worked in the Department of Global Health?
In the mid-2000s, researchers conducted a clinical trial in Ethiopia to see what it would take to eliminate trachoma, a disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis and the most common cause of blindness from infection worldwide. They randomly gave one- to 10-year-old kids either the antibiotic azithromycin to clear and prevent infection or delayed their treatment until after the trial ended.
This year’s catastrophic flooding has created hard times for many people in Midwest, but it’s created a nirvana for mosquitoes.
Kansas City and the surrounding region could potentially become a hotbed for mosquito-borne viruses like West Nile virus in the coming years due to increasing temperatures and more frequent flooding, which are predicted by climate experts.
Cory Morin, an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health, is quoted in this story.
For Mariel Boyarsky (MPH, 2015), the global element of her Global Health background manifested itself when she became a registered nurse at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York in February 2019.