Amazon Joins with Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan to Form Health-care Company

By Matt Day / The Seattle Times

The three U.S. corporate giants say their new venture will work to improve employee care and lower costs "free from profit-making incentives and constraints."

Amazon  — thought for years to be weighing an entry into health care — landed there with an unexpected splash Tuesday, revealing plans to form a joint venture with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase that’s charged with lowering the cost of caring for employees.

Devex: Q&A With Liberia's Minister of Health on Lessons Learned from the Ebola Crisis

By Catherine Cheney

“West Africa is sitting on a ticking time bomb,” Bernice Dahn, Liberia’s minister of health, said at Global Health: Next Decade, Next Generation, an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, her alma mater. 

"We all learned a lot of lessons from the Ebola outbreak. At least one lesson that we have learned is that an epidemic... could quickly become a pandemic," she said.

Medical Historian from Cuba Visits UW (Video)

In the decades since the success of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, that small island has gained a global reputation for its pioneering health system. Although Cuba’s GDP is only a fraction of that of the U.S., the island has a lower infant mortality rate and has among the highest life expectancies and doctor-patient ratios in the world. What factors account for the success of medicine and public health in Cuba?

Seattle Times: Cuba Rediscovered: US Students Get Free Ride in Cuban Medical School

By Ángel González

Cuba’s renowned health-care system, which flourishes despite the country’s poverty, still has lessons to teach the world, experts say. Hundreds of U.S. students have attended medical school tuition-free in Cuba, including a UW grad who plans on returning home to practice in underserved communities in Kitsap County.

Assistant Professor Paul Drain is quoted.

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NPR: WHO Says Ebola Epidemic Is Over. What Have (And Haven't) We Learned?

By Karin Huster, MPH ('14)

This month marks two years since the first Ebola cases were confirmed in Guinea. The time has come for recollection and reflection, frank opinions and lessons learned. What did we do well? What should we have done differently? What has Ebola taught us? I spent 6 weeks in Liberia, 4 1/2 months in Sierra Leone, and 6 months in Guinea during the epidemic, working with Ebola patients and focusing on strategies to fight the disease. These thoughts come from the experiences that I had working in the field.