The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent research organization at the 乱伦社区, has received a landmark 10-year grant from the Gates Foundation to strengthen freely available, scientifically rigorous health evidence used by governments, researchers, and leaders to improve the health and well-being of people in Washington, the United States, and around the world.

IHME is part of the UW School of Medicine, and the $540.2 million investment will provide long-term support for expanding the Global Burden of Disease study to provide health data for thousands of new areas. GBD is the most comprehensive assessment of health trends and conditions across countries. Under the grant, GBD will expand from roughly 925 locations today to nearly 5,000 鈥� a major expansion in the geographic detail available to the people making decisions. The grant will also support IHME鈥檚 health forecasting and future-scenarios work, and its tracking of health spending worldwide.

Together, these resources help decision-makers, researchers, and health professionals understand the health challenges people face today, anticipate what is coming next, and determine how limited resources can be used most effectively to improve health.

鈥淩eliable and independent evidence can mean the difference between reacting to a health crisis after it has taken hold and acting early enough to change its course,鈥� said Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray, IHME director and professor of health metrics sciences. 鈥淭his investment will allow us to provide high-quality evidence at a much more local level and help leaders understand not only where health is improving or worsening, but which decisions can make the greatest difference for people.鈥�

Murray, the grant鈥檚 principal investigator, started the Global Burden of Disease study in the early 1990s and has led its development since, in collaboration with a global research network now spanning more than 150 countries and territories.

The Gates Foundation, along with the state of Washington, provided the founding investment that established IHME at the 乱伦社区 in 2007, creating an independent institute dedicated to measuring the world鈥檚 most pressing health challenges and evaluating whether policies and programs are improving people鈥檚 lives. Its sustained support has helped build the field of health metrics itself. IHME has developed many of the methods and standards the field now relies on and has helped collaborators contribute to the field as well. The new grant builds on that longstanding partnership and provides a base for IHME鈥檚 next phase of growth.

鈥淓very government and funder faces difficult decisions about where to invest limited resources for greatest impact, and those decisions depend on trusted evidence,鈥� said Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer of the Gates Foundation. 鈥淔or nearly two decades, IHME has been one of the foundation鈥檚 most important global partners, helping us, governments, researchers, and global health partners around the world understand where health is improving, where progress is stalling, and where action is needed most. Our long-term commitment recognizes the value of this work to strengthen a shared evidence base that will continue to inform decisions to improve鈥攁nd save鈥攎illions of lives.鈥�

The Global Burden of Disease network has grown to more than 20,000 collaborators in over 150 countries and territories: researchers, clinicians, government analysts, and policymakers who contribute to the study鈥檚 data and methods and carry health measurement into their own institutions and ministries. This next phase of IHME鈥檚 work is an opportunity to consolidate that foundation and extend it considerably further.

The grant comes as countries confront overlapping health threats and growing pressure on public and global health budgets. By producing more detailed, timely, and forward-looking evidence, IHME aims to help leaders identify urgent needs, prepare health systems, and invest in policies and programs most likely to prevent illness, disability, and premature death.

The award is the largest charitable grant ever given to the 乱伦社区.

鈥淭he Gates Foundation has been a steadfast partner of the 乱伦社区 for decades, and we are grateful for its generous support. The UW is committed to improving the health of people in Washington and around the world, and this investment will expand IHME鈥檚 already significant impact, which will mean longer, healthier lives for countless people,鈥� said UW President Robert J. Jones.

IHME鈥檚 research and findings are freely available to countries, researchers, and communities regardless of their income or access to commercial data systems.

鈥淲e are deeply grateful to the Gates Foundation for this extraordinary investment in IHME and the 乱伦社区 School of Medicine,鈥� said Dr. Timothy Dellit, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the 乱伦社区 School of Medicine. 鈥淭heir longstanding partnership has helped make it possible for IHME to deliver trusted health evidence around the world. This new grant will extend that impact by giving leaders data that are comprehensive and comparable to guide decisions that help improve the health of communities and save lives.鈥�

Read . For interview requests, data inquiries or general questions, please contact IHME at ihmemedia@uw.edu.

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The 乱伦社区 is proud to announce that 56 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at UW have been named on the list from Clarivate.

The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the .

Highly Cited Researchers demonstrate significant and broad influence in their fields of research. The total list includes 7,131 awards from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. This small fraction of the global researcher population contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and contributing to innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and which drive societal impact, according to Clarivate.

The that determines the 鈥渨ho鈥檚 who鈥� of influential researchers is drawn from data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

The list below includes faculty and researchers whose primary affiliation is with the UW, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Please note: Some of the people on the list are no longer with the UW and their current affiliation is noted. This list reflects initial data from Clarivate and may be updated.

Ivan Anishchenko (Vilya)

David Baker

William A. Banks

Gregory N. Bratman

Steven L. Brunton

Guozhong Cao

Ting Cao

Lauren Carter (Gates Medical Research Institute)

Helen Chu

David H. Cobden

Katharine H. D. Crawford

Riza M. Daza

Frank DiMaio

Kristie L. Ebi

Evan E. Eichler

Emmanuela Gakidou

David Ginger

Raphael Gottardo (CHUV)

Alexander L. Greninger

Simon I. Hay

Andrew Hill (Infinimmune)

Eric Huang

Michael C. Jensen (BrainChild)

Neil P.听 King

C. Dirk Keene

J. Nathan Kutz

Eric H. Larson

Aaron Lyon

Michael J. MacCoss

Brendan MacLean

C. M. Marcus

Julian D. Marshall

Ali Mokdad

Thomas J. Montine (Stanford)

Mohsen Naghavi

Marian L. Neuhouser

Julian D. Olden

Robert W. Palmatier

David Pigott

Hannah A. Pliner (Bristol Myers Squibb)

Ganesh Raghu

Stanley Riddell

Andrea Schietinger (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Jay Shendure

M. Alejandra Tortorici

Troy R. Torgerson (Allen Institute)

Cole Trapnell

Katherine R. Tuttle

David Veesler

Theo Vos

Alexandra C. Walls (BioNTech SE)

Bryan J. Weiner

Di Xiao

Jie Xiao

Xiaodong Xu

Jihui Yang

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Two 乱伦社区 researchers have been named AAAS Fellows, according to an by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among 502 newly elected fellows from around the world, who are recognized for their 鈥渟cientifically and socially distinguished achievements鈥� in science and engineering.

A tradition dating back to 1874, election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor, and all fellows are expected to meet the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity.

This year鈥檚 UW AAAS fellows are:

, the Lloyd E. and Florence M. West Endowed Professor of Chemistry and a researcher with the UW Clean Energy Institute, is honored for her contributions to the development of nanoscale materials, which are in the size range of approximately 1 to 100 nanometers, for applications in energy and advanced electronics. For reference, 1 nanometer is about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Cossairt investigates how crystalline nanoscale materials come together, grow and shrink and react with other compounds and photons. Her research includes synthesizing materials with novel physical and surface chemistry properties, such as inorganic quantum dots with use in lighting, displays, catalysis and quantum information technology. A UW faculty member since 2012, Cossairt has earned numerous honors, including a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Packard Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award and a teacher scholar award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. She also co-founded the Chemistry Women Mentorship Network to provide support, encouragement and career-development opportunities for women in the chemistry field.

, professor of pharmacy and of global health, was recognized for his work to better monitor the safety of essential medicines and vaccines, especially in low- and middle-income countries. He directed a study assessing the safety of antimalarial drugs among pregnant people in sub-Saharan African nations and has been involved in several other initiatives to assess the safety of vaccines used during pregnancy. He researches the global burden of antimicrobial resistance and has strengthened pharmacy services in numerous countries. Dr. Stergachis is an elected member of the National Academies of Medicine, fellow of the American Pharmacists Association and fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. He holds adjunct faculty appointments in the Departments of Health Metrics & Evaluation and in Epidemiology.

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The 乱伦社区 is proud to announce that 47 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at UW have been named on the annual list from Clarivate.

The highly anticipated annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.

The list of faculty and researchers who were acknowledged for their work while at UW includes:

• David Baker
• Frank DiMaio
• William Sheffler
• Dr. Jay Shendure
• Cole Trapnell
• David Veesler
• Alexandra C. Walls*
• Philip Mease
• Dr. Christopher J. L. Murray
• Dr. Ganesh Raghu
• Dr. Stanley Riddell
• Alejandra Tortorici
• Dr. William A. Banks
• Gregory N. Bratman
• Steven L. Brunton
• Guozhong Cao
• William A. Catterall
• David H. Cobden
• Riza M. Daza
• Dr. E. Patchen Dellinger
• Dr. Janet A. Englund
• E. Erskine
• Michael Gale Jr.
• Raphael Gottardo
• Celestia S. Higano
• Neil P. King
• Ali Mokdad
• William S. Noble
• Julian D. Olden
• L. Patrick
• David L. Smith
• Dr. Piper Meigs Treuting
• Spencer A. Wood
• Jesse R. Zaneveld
• Ning Zheng
• Dr. Hans D. Ochs
• Simon I. Hay
• Evan E. Eichler
• Deborah A. Nickerson**
• John A. Stamatoyannopoulos***
• Dr. Thomas J. Montine****
• Di Xiao
• Xiaodong Xu
• Bryan J. Weiner
• Mohsen Naghavi
• Theo Vos
• David M. Pigott

The that determines the 鈥渨ho鈥檚 who鈥� of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these scientific elite are based. This year Clarivate partnered with Retraction Watch and extended the qualitative analysis of the Highly Cited Researchers list, addressing increasing concerns over potential misconduct.

The full 2022 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found online .

* now is at BioNTech SE.

** on Dec. 24, 2021.

*** now is at Altius.

**** now is at Stanford University.

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The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health has won top awards in 2021 from state and national design and construction associations for both its architectural design and unique project delivery approach. The building was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership and the general contractor was Lease Crutcher Lewis.

• The in November gave the Rosling Center its category, the award for and the culminating
• The Chicago Athenaeum听Museum of Architecture and Design gave UW鈥檚 building the
• The Associated General Contractors of Washington gave the Rosling Center its award for construction excellence in the category
• And, the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave the center one of four

The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health was made possible by a $210 million gift from the听听in October 2016 and $15 million in earmarked funding from the Washington Legislature, as well as funding from the university.听The center opened to the public in the fall of 2021 and is home to the听, the 听(IHME), parts of the听听and the offices of the Population Health Initiative.

The center is a direct result of the UW鈥檚听Population Health Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort across the university to bring understanding and solutions to the biggest health challenges

facing communities here in the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. and around the world.

鈥淭he design for the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health draws its inspiration from the Population Health Initiative itself, with a focus on the health and wellness of its inhabitants as well as on global health issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, water preservation and material toxicity,鈥� said Whitney Pearce, an architect and project manager with Miller Hull.

The design optimizes opportunities for connection and collaboration among the building inhabitants, with program elements that support active, healthy lifestyles and workspaces that encourage working together, Pearce explained, adding that art and storytelling elements are integrated throughout the facility. These elements speak to the mission of both the building and the occupants, creating opportunities for education and inspiration.

The building project also achieved LEED Gold Certification through a number of sustainable building systems such as rainwater catchment and reuse for flushing bathroom fixtures, increased ventilation rates for improved indoor air quality, heat recovery from the West Campus Utility Plant for heating, as well as highly efficient radiant heating and cooling made possible by high-performance window and wall assemblies.

鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health was recognized with these well-deserved honors,鈥� said , the university鈥檚 chief strategy officer for population health and professor of health metrics sciences at IHME. 鈥淭he intentional design of this building is going to be transformational to the university鈥檚 efforts to spur interdisciplinary collaboration to address some of the big challenges we face to our collective health and well-being.鈥�

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Outdoor workers in the world鈥檚 lower-latitude tropical forests may face a greater risk of heat-related deaths and unsafe working conditions because of deforestation and climate warming, according to a led by The Nature Conservancy, the 乱伦社区 and Indonesia鈥檚 Mulawarman University.

In the study, researchers found that increased temperatures of 0.95 C (1.7 F) in the deforested areas of Berau Regency, Indonesia, between 2002 and 2018 were linked to roughly 118 additional deaths in 2018, and 20 additional minutes of daily conditions too hot for humans to work in safely. Future climate warming of 2 C (3.6 F) above 2018鈥檚 levels could increase deaths in Berau by 20% (approximately 282 additional annual deaths) and another five unsafe work hours per day 鈥� even without greater deforestation.

鈥淎mbient heat exposure and internal body heat from heavy physical work can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke 鈥� which can be fatal 鈥� as well as acute kidney injury and traumatic injuries,鈥� said听 co-author , associate professor and assistant chair of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UW School of Public Health.

Researchers point out that the increase in heat-related deaths with a 2 C rise in global temperatures would be comparable to mortality from other long-term public health challenges in Asia, such as tobacco smoking. In addition, they write, 鈥渨orkers in Berau are already adapting to hotter temperatures due to deforestation, suggesting those engaged in outdoor work may already be approaching their adaptive capacity through behavioral adaptations.鈥�

The study in Lancet Planetary Health used publicly available and secondary data such as satellite monitoring of forest cover, temperatures, climate models, population densities, and the report published annually in The Lancet by the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Researchers focused on Berau as an area emblematic of tropical forest regions facing rapid deforestation.

鈥淎pproximately 800 million people live and work in the world鈥檚 tropical forest nations,鈥� Spector said. 鈥淭hese forests can act as natural air conditioners and sequester carbon, thus having implications for both climate change adaptation and mitigation. Information from this modeling study should be considered in discussions about trade-offs between economic welfare, human health, the natural environment and decisions about climate change adaptation and mitigation.鈥�

Other UW authors of the study are , graduate student, and , professor and Tamaki Endowed Chair, in the Department of Atmospheric Science; and , professor of global health and environmental and occupational health sciences in the School of Public Health. For complete list of authors and more about the study see The Nature Conservancy鈥檚 .

The study was supported by a pilot research grant from the UW Population Health Initiative.

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The six UW faculty members who have been named as fellows are:

, professor emeritus in the School of Oceanography, is honored for his continuing work on the ecology of the plankton, the very small algae and animals that float with the currents. His career has focused on how plankton interact with light, temperature, oxygen, bound nitrogen, iron and other nutrients. At sea, Banse worked in the Baltic, the North Sea and Puget Sound, but especially the Arabian Sea. In other work, using an early color global satellite, he investigated the offshore seasonality of phytoplankton chlorophyll. With former students he also studied bottom-living polychaetous annelid worms and published identification keys for the nearly 500 species of these worms found between Oregon and southeast Alaska, between the shore and about 200 meters depth. Banse joined the UW faculty in 1960. The 90-year-old researcher became emeritus in 1995 and remains scientifically active.

, a professor of health metrics sciences and director of the at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, was selected for his research resolving infectious diseases in space and time in order to expose inequalities in health metrics and improve intervention strategies. He currently leads an international collaboration of researchers from a wide variety of academic disciplines to create even better maps of infectious disease. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles and other contributions, including two major, in-depth research papers published independently. His published works are cited more than 18,000 times each year, leading to more than 82,000 lifetime citations. With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Hay has embarked on a project to expand this research to a much wider range of diseases to ultimately harmonize this mapping with the Global Burden of Disease Study, IHME’s signature project.

, a professor of microbiology, studies Kaposi鈥檚 Sarcoma Herpesvirus, a virus that alters the cells lining blood and lymphatic vessels. Those changes can cause Kaposi鈥檚 Sarcoma, a form of cancer that commonly affects AIDS patients worldwide and people in parts of central Africa. Lagunoff鈥檚 lab has studied how the Kaposi鈥檚 Sarcoma Herpesvirus interferes with endothelial cell signaling, gene expression and metabolism to promote the formation of tumors containing numerous blood vessels. His lab used RNA-sequencing, metabolomics, proteomics and other techniques to determine global changes in host-cell gene expression and signaling. This information has helped to identify key cellular pathways induced by the virus. His team is studying how the virus alters the host cell metabolism to mimic cancer cell metabolism, and is searching for novel therapeutic targets for Kaposi鈥檚 Sarcoma.

, a professor of pathology and genome sciences and an investigator at the , studies DNA damage and repair mechanisms, genome instability, and its role in cancer and other conditions. He is noted for his work on Werner, Bloom and Rothman-Thomson syndromes. These inherited disorders cause distinctive physical characteristics, such as premature aging in Werner鈥檚, and predispose to cancer. Monnat鈥檚 team explores how the loss of key proteins important to DNA metabolism may underlie these rare syndromes. Aberrant expression of those proteins may be common in some adult cancers and affect response to chemotherapy. Monnat and his group use certain genome engineering techniques to try to correct disease-causing mutations in patient-derived stem cells. His lab has also identified 鈥渟afe-harbor sites鈥� in the human genome where new genetic elements might be inserted without disrupting the expression of nearby genes.

, professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and the Department of Biology, is elected for her work in marine ecology. Her research focuses on seabird ecology, marine conservation and public science. A committed advocate of citizen science, she founded and directs the , which for two decades has enlisted coastal residents from California to Alaska to monitor West Coast beaches for dead birds and marine debris. Parrish spoke at the White House in 2013 about public engagement in science and scientific literacy. She holds the Lowell A. and Frankie L. Wakefield endowed professorship, and is associate dean for academic affairs in the UW College of the Environment.

, a professor of Earth and space sciences, is honored for his work in glaciology and climate science. Steig uses ice cores and other records to study climate variability over thousands of years. He works on the climate history and dynamics of polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers, and develops new tools to extract the chemical clues in samples of ice and other material. Steig was among the leaders of a project to drill the first deep ice core at South Pole, and was on the team that drilled a 2-mile-deep ice core in West Antarctica. His recent research has focused on the links between large-scale climate conditions and changes in West Antarctica, where glaciers are rapidly retreating. In addition to his research and teaching, he is committed to fostering greater public understanding of climate change, and is a founding contributor to RealClimate.org.

In addition, , an investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an affiliate professor of genome sciences at the UW, was selected for his research on genetic conflict.

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Hans Rosling is known internationally for his captivating analysis of global health data, for discovering a paralyzing disease in Africa and explaining its socio-economic causes, and for his intense curiosity and life-long passion for educating students, world leaders and the public.

Now, Hans Rosling 鈥� a Swedish doctor, statistician, author and professor 鈥� will be a name associated with the 乱伦社区’s transformative work in population health. Today, the UW Board of Regents approved naming the $230 million building under construction on UW’s Seattle campus the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health.

“Hans Rosling was a visionary scholar who challenged the world to truly understand the health challenges we face, as well as the potential we have to overcome them. It was this unique combination of practicality and optimism that drove his work, and inspired so many to action,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “I hope the faculty, students, staff and partners who come together in the building are equally inspired by Dr. Rosling’s legacy as they work to improve the well-being of people in Washington and around the world.”

In 2016, the UW launched its Population Health Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort across the university to bring understanding and solutions to the biggest health challenges facing communities here in the Pacific Northwest, the U.S. and around the world.

The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health was made possible by a $210 million gift from the听听in October 2016 and $15 million in earmarked funding from the Washington Legislature, as well as funding from the university. The Gates family proposed naming the building after Rosling in honor of his rigorous analysis of the true state of the world and passion for improving heath, which spurred a decades-long friendship with the physician and his family.

“Where others saw statistics, Hans saw the chance to tell an incredible human story about our progress against poverty and disease. A data geek through and through, he used numbers to educate, to entertain and to share his special brand of big-hearted, evidence-based optimism,” said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “This is a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man.”

After earning his medical degree from Uppsala University in Sweden in 1974, Rosling traveled to northern Mozambique where he was in charge of health services for more than 300,000 people, at one time becoming the region’s only doctor. During his time in Mozambique, he discovered a previously unrecognized paralytic disease that his research team named “konzo.” Rosling’s team traced the outbreak of the disease to cyanide poisoning of the people who were eating improperly prepared cassava roots during food crisis years.

After returning to Sweden, Rosling taught courses on health systems in resource poor settings听and international health at Uppsala University and the medical university Karolinska Institutet until his death in 2017. He was a member of the Swedish Academy of Science, the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Global Agenda Network of the World Economic Forum. Among his many honors was the Illis Quorum Meruere Labores (“For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It”), the highest award conferred by the Swedish government.

In 2006, Rosling burst onto the international stage with a widely acclaimed TED Talk titled “” that has been viewed more than 14 million times, showing innovative animated data visualizations developed by his son Ola Rosling, and daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling R枚nnlund. Hans Rosling followed that success with nine more TED Talks, speaking engagements around the world and the best-selling book “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World 鈥� and Why Things Are Better Than You Think.” Published posthumously, “Factfulness” was co-authored with Ola and Anna.

“With powerful data and beautiful charts, Hans taught the world that humanity was getting better,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “He shone a spotlight on how far the world had come in taking care of its poorest. Hans is among the greatest influences in how I think 鈥� and talk 鈥� about our foundation’s work today.”

As his fame and reach grew among the public, and international leaders in business and health, Rosling characteristically self-deprecated that he was an “edutainer” and countered negative suggestions that he was just an “optimist” by declaring instead that he was “a very serious possibilist.”

Rosling, together with his son and daughter-in-law, also created the Swedish foundation and website , which, as the site states, continues his life’s mission “to fight devastating ignorance about the world with a fact-based worldview that everyone can understand.”

“A large dedicated building inspires people to collaborate towards a higher goal. Hans would have been proud to see his name on this new center dedicated to precisely the kind of health research that he was convinced has the highest potential to improve health worldwide,” said Rosling鈥檚 family 鈥� Agneta Rosling (wife), Anna Rosling Larsson (daughter), Magnus Rosling (son), Ola Rosling (son), Anna Rosling R枚nnlund (daughter in law, married to Ola), Mats Rosling (Hans’ brother) 鈥� in a statement.

“Hans would probably have taken the opportunity to paraphrase his grandmother: The reason you鈥檙e building this large beautiful house must be because you actually believe there鈥檚 something valuable in all people. You believe that all people everywhere deserve to get the best possible health care,” the family added. “That鈥檚 exactly what Hans thought! That we must first make sure all people have access to existing solutions before further improving the health care of the healthiest. We鈥檙e thankful that you are honoring his name in this wonderful way!”

The new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health will become home to the , the , portions of the , and the UW’s . The building is also designed to be a central hub for colleges, departments, centers, researchers and students from across the university, as well as external partners, to identify and work together on projects related to population health.

“Dr. Rosling had a unique ability to focus us in on the big picture, shift narratives and inspire people to action through his transformational use of data visualizations,” said Ali H. Mokdad, the UW’s chief strategy officer for population health and professor of Health Metrics Sciences. “His seminal efforts are foundational to the work of the Population Health Initiative and the 乱伦社区’s vision for harnessing innovative approaches to improve population health, and we are deeply honored that we will now forever be associated with his name.”

At approximately 300,000 square feet, the Rosling Center for Population Health will support spaces for collaborative group work, active learning, offices and training for global partners and multi-disciplinary work in population health campus wide. Honorary naming of various spaces within the building will take place over the course of its construction and following its opening. Generous natural light and common amenities will include kitchens, eating areas, wellness rooms听and gender-neutral bathrooms on all floors.

Construction is expected to be completed by fall 2020.

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Mokdad鈥檚 appointment will begin July 1 and will be part time, allowing him to continue his work as a professor of global health and director of Middle Eastern Initiatives at the UW鈥檚 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Mokdad has served as vice chair of the Population Health Initiative since the inception of its executive council in July 2016.

鈥淎li Mokdad is a convener and a visionary who is respected internationally, locally and among his colleagues here at the UW for his ability to bring together great minds and ideas,鈥� Cauce said. 鈥淗e has done fabulous work supporting the development of a strong foundation for the Population Health Initiative and I am excited to support his leadership in this new role.鈥�

Mokdad will advance the UW鈥檚 long-standing excellence in a multitude of disciplines that contribute to population health, reporting directly to President Cauce and working collaboratively with the provost and others at the UW. Mokdad also will lead efforts to identify, pursue and secure the external partners and funding necessary to support the Population Health Initiative.

鈥淚 am both honored and humbled by this opportunity to help improve the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the world,鈥� Mokdad said.听 鈥淚 look forward to collaborating with colleagues at the UW and others in the academic, non-profit, and corporate sectors on this vital and extraordinary endeavor.鈥�

Prior to joining IHME, Mokdad worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), starting his career there in 1990. Mokdad has published more than 450 articles and numerous reports. He has received several awards, including the Global Health Achievement Award for his work in Banda Aceh after the tsunami, the Department of Health and Human Services Honor Award for his work on flu monitoring, and the Shepard Award for outstanding scientific contribution to public health for his work on听the听Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System听(BRFSS). He received his bachelor of science in biostatistics from the American University of Beirut and his doctor of philosophy in quantitative epidemiology from Emory University.

The UW鈥檚 Population Health Initiative revolves around three major pillars 鈥� human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity. Through the initiative, the UW engages and leads stakeholders from across the university, the region, the nation and the world to address all of the intersecting and overlapping factors that influence population health. Over the next quarter century, the initiative will expand the UW鈥檚 ability to turn the diagnosis of patients, populations and the planet into actionable policies, reforms, interventions and innovations.

In its first two years, the initiative has launched multiple projects, including undergraduate courses and faculty research grants, developed new external partnerships and started construction on a facility funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the State of Washington that will act as a convening space for all of the disciplines working to improve population health. More information is available at听.

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Gabino Abarca used to spend his summers hauling 40-pound bags of apples up and down ladders in the tiny central Washington town of Mattawa.

Now, the 乱伦社区 senior is conducting research on heat-related illnesses among agricultural workers in the Yakima Valley.

鈥淚 was now able to do fieldwork with a pen and paper instead of a ladder and bag,鈥� Abarca told a crowd of dignitaries gathered Wednesday for the official groundbreaking of the university鈥檚 new 290,000-square-foot Population Health Building, a facility that will house the Population Health Initiative launched by the UW in 2016.

鈥淚t means a lot to me to be working on issues that affect the community I grew up in and that my parents are still a part of,鈥� Abarca said. 鈥淚t gives me a lot of pride and pleasure to be doing work that may benefit this community.鈥�

The Population Health Initiative is a 25-year effort to create a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. The UW defines population health as revolving around three major pillars 鈥� human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity.

鈥淭ackling the enormous challenges our world faces in supporting people in living healthier, longer, happier lives will require collaboration and a shared desire to learn and take action across disciplines and sectors,鈥� said UW President . 鈥淲e recognize the serious responsibility we take on in leading this effort and are deeply grateful to all the partners who join us in committing to this endeavor.鈥�

Over the next quarter century, the Population Health Initiative will expand the UW鈥檚 ability to turn the diagnosis of patients, populations and the planet into actionable policies, reforms, interventions and innovations 鈥� similar to the work Abarca shared.

The building, which is being built on the southeast corner of 15th Avenue NE and NE Grant Place, was made possible by a transformative $210 million gift from the , and $15 million in earmarked funding from the Legislature. The total cost of the project is estimated at $230 million.

鈥淎s a proud UW grad, it鈥檚 exciting to see the university鈥檚 continued emergence as an internationally recognized center of excellence for the study of population health. The greatest challenges in global health can鈥檛 be solved without an interdisciplinary mindset; an understanding of the social, economic and environmental factors that influence health; and an end-to-end commitment to using data to establish goals, track progress and evaluate impact,鈥� said Chris Elias, president, global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a 1990 Master of Public Health graduate from the UW School of Public Health.

As part of the initiative, the new building will create a space for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation to better understand and improve all the factors that influence the health and well-being of populations here and across the globe. The , and portions of the all will be located in the building.

鈥淚 believe the UW is a place where I can have a real impact, work with the best talent in the field and contribute to the vision that informs the Population Health Initiative,鈥� Abarca said.

The UW will strengthen its commitment to reducing the diseases, injuries and health disparities that detract from and shorten the lives of far too many people both locally and globally. Recognizing that factors such as air pollution and access to clean water contribute to health disparities, the UW will work toward ways to meet the challenge of environmental sustainability, particularly in those communities most likely to be harmed by climate change. And the UW will strive to address the social and economic inequities that often leave communities here and around the world mired in poverty and poor health. More information is available at .

鈥淎t the 乱伦社区, we have long believed that our world鈥檚 most troubling problems require complex, interdisciplinary solutions. To find these answers, Population Health brings together the University鈥檚 many areas of study, expertise and research 鈥� from public health to engineering to medicine to social work to sociology and many more fields,鈥� said. 鈥淭he building will serve as a central hub that convenes faculty, students and staff from these disciplines and many others.鈥�

The building was designed by The Miller Hull Partnership. Lease Crutcher Lewis is the general contractor. It is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

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