By Sandi Doughton Seattle Times staff reporter

We’ve all noticed that fellow shopper at the grocery store with a mask snugged over his mouth — but not his nose. Maybe you’ve also got a neighbor who tugs her mask down to talk. Or perhaps you’ve detoured around groups of barefaced teenagers jostling each other in a park.

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.