Eight exceptional students were honored with a "Global Healthies" award on May 15, after a competitive review of applications. 

The Global Healthies award ceremony, now in its third year, recognizes excellence and achievement across five categories: Discovery and Development, Implementation and Application, Education and Training, Public Health and Direct Care, and Oscar Gish Social Justice and Health Equity. Submissions to each award category were evaluated by faculty with expertise in each topic area. The Oscar Gish award was voted on by attendees based on their impact on health equity and social justice. 

Prior to the award ceremony, 20 student posters lined the HUB Lyceum as faculty, staff, and community members mingled with students to learn about their projects. Ranging from a low-resource lab kit to test HIV drug resistance, to legislative impact on abortion care, student projects were interdisciplinary and far-reaching. 

Alejandra Cabral, recipient of the award for Education and Training, focused her project on taking stock of community needs and desires before beginning research. "Many people in this community are fatigued of researchers. They feel like they don't have a voice in the process, and the issues they feel strongly about aren't taken as seriously," she said. "With last year's election process, mental health concerns sky rocketed for the Latinx community. I wanted them to have the space and opportunity to make that known as a research priority." 

The Global Healthies awards are supported by individual donations to the Department of Global Health, and the Oscar Gish award is provided in honor of Oscar Gish, a University of Washington faculty member, economist, author, and scholar who passed away in 2004. He was a fierce advocate for social justice and equality, and influenced both students and faculty alike to strengthen their commitment to justice. This year's Oscar Gish award was split among two projects that most exemplified the ethos of Gish's life, led by students Shadae Paul and Beatrice Wamuti, and Hana Mohamed. 

Congratulations to this year's Global Healthies winners!

DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT

Lauren Gomez, MPH student
Project: “Improved Neurodevelopment Following Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Infected Children”

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Alejandra Cabral, MPH student
Project: “Using Community-Engagement to Identify Health Priorities in Latino Neighborhoods”

IMPLEMENTATION AND APPLICATION

Jillian Neary, MPH in Epidemiology ('16)
Project: “Improvements to Patient Tracking Tool for Provider Initiated HIV Testing and Counseling (PITC) in Pediatric Wards at Kenyatta National Hospital”

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE AND DIRECT CARE

Lola Arakaki, PhD student in Epidemiology and Luwam Kidane, MS student in Epidemiology
Project: “Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases: Women and Girls in Focus”

OSCAR GISH SOCIAL JUSTICE & EQUITY

This award was split among two projects.

Hana Mohamed, MSW/MPH student
Project: "Perceptions of Mental Health in the Somali Community in King County, WA: a Community-Based Participatory Research Study"

Shadae Paul, MPH/MPA student and Beatrice Wamuti, MPH student
Project: "Culture, Exclusion and Healthcare in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa"

To learn more about how philanthropy can fuel and sustain this important work, please contact Megan Ingram, Assistant Dean for Advancement, UW School of Public Health, mkingram@uw.edu, 206.616.7197, or Christopher S. Thompson, Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, UW Medicine Advancement, csthomp@uw.edu, 206.543.8203.