John Sumkai Atiiga, a University of Washington Department of Global Health MPH alumnus, has been awarded the Graduate School’s 2025 Distinguished Thesis Award (Biology & Life Sciences) for his thesis, “Oral Inflammation and Systemic Immune Activation Among Children Living with HIV in Kenya”. This award competition is held by the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS), and recognizes achievement at the master’s level in multiple STEM disciplines.

Prior to enrolling at the UW, John graduated from the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2015 and subsequently worked in many underserved communities across the region. His experience as an oral surgeon in Ghana shaped him into the well-rounded global health professional he is today, as he witnessed first-hand the effects of an inequitable healthcare system on a population’s oral health and overall well-being. “Coming from a region where health disparities are widespread, I developed a strong interest in the social determinants of health and the leadership skills necessary to promote health equity”, states John. This led him to pursue his Master of Public Health at UW’s Global Health Department in 2023.

John describes how his experience as a dental surgeon in Ghana was crucial in showing him how much oral health affects a person’s overall health. “Despite its far-reaching implications, oral health remains neglected in many healthcare systems and continues to be a significant contributor to health inequities,” he says. This is especially apparent in people living with HIV. John breaks this down by explaining that HIV and oral inflammation can contribute to “systemic immune activation”, making those living with HIV more susceptible to a plethora of non-communicable diseases. This influenced the topic of his thesis project (“Oral Inflammation and Systemic Immune Activation Among Children Living with HIV in Kenya”), and he decided to focus on the effect in children due to their immature immune systems, which can potentially lead to medical complications later on in life. His research findings indicated that children living with HIV who started Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) late suffered from more severe cases of oral diseases such as gingivitis, compared to those who started therapy early. Furthermore, children living with HIV who also had gingivitis developed overactive immune systems and related conditions (systemic immune activation) even after years of HIV treatment.

Since completing his thesis project in the spring, John has graduated with his MPH and is now pursuing a residency in general dentistry in Cleveland, Ohio at the MetroHealth System. Reflecting on his MPH journey at the UW, John describes one of the most valuable aspects of his time in the program being the network of colleagues and faculty that he was able to collaborate with, who contributed to both his personal and professional growth. John had served as a Teaching and Research Assistant within the Department of Global Health, and also completed his practicum with the Digital Initiatives Group at I-TECH (DIGI), where he was able to contribute a curriculum assessment model to a major international health initiative. John wishes to continue honing in on his vast array of skills to provide better healthcare to marginalized populations as he describes how, “this residency offers an excellent opportunity to further refine my clinical skills while integrating the public health knowledge and leadership training I gained through the Department of Global Health at UW”.

John hopes to keep contributing to research in dental health and advocate for policies that lead to an equitable landscape in dental public health in populations across the world. We have no doubt that John will continue to succeed in all his professional endeavors, and we wish him the best as he continues to impact global health research.