Every year, we take the time to recognize outstanding staff for their dedication and many contributions to our department. Criteria for selecting outstanding staff included superior service, resourcefulness, innovation, creativity, excellence, integrity, and a commitment to creating and sustaining a climate of equity, justice, and anti-racism. Congratulations to all nominees! 

DGH Outstanding Staff Award Recipient and SPH Anderson-O'Connell Award for Outstanding Staff Service

Lisa Nonzee
Sr. HR Manager

Kevin Jiang, a recent Ph.D. graduate in Bioengineering, took First Place at this year’s University of Washington’s Three Minute Thesis (UW 3MT) Competition. Grace Umutesi, a Ph.D. student in Global Health Metrics & Implementation Science, was named Runner-Up and earned the People’s Choice Award.

“We have so many evidence-based interventions to reduce child mortality that are inexpensive, and that are unequivocally effective,” Means said. “It's really about getting those interventions to the right people in the right places. That is our challenge.”

Dr. Carey Farquhar, professor of medicine (Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and global health, has received a Global Innovation Fund Award from the UW Office of Global Affairs. The UW Global Innovation Fund seeds initiatives and programs, developing cross-college and cross-continent collaborations that enhance the University of Washington’s global reach.

Jason Daniel-Ulloa, associate teaching professor in the Departments of Health Systems and Population Health and Global Health, has been awarded the University of Washington’s Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award. Presented as part of the UW’s 2025 Awards of Excellence, the honor recognizes full-time faculty who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to teaching and designing courses in non-degree programs that serve professional development, personal growth, and career transformation.

Adjunct Professor of Global Health, Helen Chu, went through a multiyear process to finally gain a seat on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccines experts panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. She and the rest of her colleagues on the ACIP were summarily terminated. 

Department of Global Health Professor, James Pfeiffer, weighs in on recent cuts to federal aid funding: "The Trump administration's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development and other aid funding for global health are cruel and catastrophic."

The Trump administration has put the nation’s most comprehensive climate study on hold and told hundreds of scientists working on it that their services are no longer needed.

Peter Rabinowitz, the director of The Center for One Health Research at the University of Washington, which investigates disease between animals and humans, weighs in on this growing trend.

Abraham Flaxman is a professor at the University of Washington who studies diseases and how they affect global health. Flaxman is also the sponsor of a resolution that passed the UW’s Faculty Senate last week, calling for the UW to join a “mutual defense compact” of Big Ten universities. “That’s what this is — a NATO for higher education.” It passed 52 to 5.