UPDATE April 7, 2026:听The original version of this story omitted two UW programs that were included in the rankings: Occupational Therapy (Tied for 20th) and Physical Therapy (Tied for 31st).听

The 天美影视传媒鈥檚 graduate and professional degree programs again were recognized as among the best in the nation, according to .

Topping this year鈥檚 list include programs at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering in the College of Engineering and the College of Education. The College of Arts & Sciences and the College of the Environment also had top-rated programs.

In total, 81 graduate and professional degree programs across the UW placed in the top 35 in this year鈥檚 U.S. News rankings.

“These rankings highlight the strength and impact of the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 graduate and professional programs,鈥� said UW President Robert J. Jones. 鈥淭hese programs equip students with the skills and knowledge to meet critical workforce needs and serve society, while demonstrating the power of higher education to advance the public good. We are proud to foster an environment where students and faculty can thrive and have a real impact on the world around them.鈥�

While the UW celebrates the success and impact of the programs recognized by U.S. News 鈥� and notes that many applicants use these rankings to help them select schools and discover potential areas of study 鈥� the University also recognizes shortcomings inherent in the ranking systems.

The UW School of Law and the UW School of Medicine withdrew from the U.S. News rankings in 2022 and 2023, respectively, citing concerns that some of the methodology in the rankings for those specific disciplines incentivize actions and policies that run counter to the schools鈥� public service missions.

UW leaders continue to work with U.S. News and other ranking organizations to improve their methodologies, to the extent that the organizations are open to it. Schools, colleges and departments continually reevaluate the benefits and potential shortfalls of participating in specific rankings.

Excluding the School of Law and the School of Medicine, 29 UW programs placed in the top 10, and 81 are in the top 35.

听The UW this year placed in the top 10 nationwide in public affairs, biostatistics,听 nursing, computer science, education, psychology, speech and language pathology, statistics and Earth sciences.

The UW鈥檚 Evans School of Public Policy & Governance has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade and tied for fifth in the nation this year. The Evans School鈥檚 environmental policy program was ranked second, while public finance and budgeting as well as leadership both ranked No. 10.

The UW School of Nursing鈥檚 doctor of nursing practice program tied for No. 1 among public institutions. The School of Public Health has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade, coming in this year at No. 9. The school also had three programs in the top 10: biostatistics, environmental health sciences and epidemiology.听

The UW鈥檚 programs in speech and language pathology tied for No. 6.听 Two programs from the College of Education placed in the top 10. And the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering this year tied for seventh place overall with three programs ranked in the top 10, including artificial intelligence, programming language and systems.

U.S. News ranks biostatistics in two ways. UW ranked No. 3 as a science discipline that applies statistical theory and mathematical principles to research in medicine, biology, environmental science, public health and related fields. UW鈥檚 School of Public Health ranked No. 7 in biostatistics as an area of study that trains students to apply statistical principles and methods to problems in health sciences, medicine and biology. At the UW, biostatistics is a division of the School of Public Health.

In some cases, such as the College of Arts & Science and the Foster School of Business, U.S. News ranks several professional disciplines housed within academic units. Programs in dentistry are not ranked.听

The rankings below are based on preliminary data and may be updated. relies on both expert opinions and statistical indicators.

TOP 10:

Library and Information Studies (overall): Two-way tie for 1st (ranked in 2025)

Public Affairs (environmental policy): 2nd

Library and information studies (digital librarianship): Two-way for 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Library and Information Studies (information systems): 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Biostatistics: 3rd

Physics (nuclear): Two-way tie for 3rd (ranked in 2024)

Nurse practitioner (doctor of nursing practice): Four-way tie for 4th

Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): Four-way tie for 5th

Library and Information Studies (library services for children and youth): Two-way for 5th (ranked in 2022)

Computer science (systems): Tied for 6th

Education (elementary education): 6th

Psychology (clinical): Three-way tie for 6th

Speech-language pathology: Five-way tie for 6th

Statistics: Four-way tie for 6th

Public Health (biostatistics): 7th

Computer science (overall): Three-way tie for 7th

Computer science (programming language): Tied for 7th

Education (secondary education): 7th

Nursing (midwifery): Five-way tie for 7th

Public Health (environmental health sciences): 7th

School of Social Work (overall): 7th (ranked in 2025)

Public Health (epidemiology): 8th

Computer science (artificial intelligence): 9th

Earth sciences: Tied for 9th听

Geophysics: Three-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)

Public Affairs (nonprofit management): 9th

School of Public Health (overall): Tied for 9th

Public Affairs (public finance and budgeting): 10th

Public Affairs (public management and leadership): 10th

TOP 25:

Biological sciences: Five-way tie for 16th

Business (accounting): 10-way tie for 16th

Business (entrepreneurship): Five-way tie for 17th

Business (information systems): Three-way tie for 15th

Business (part-time MBA): Three-way tie for 11th

Business (full-time MBA): 20th

Business (management): Five-way tie for 25th

Business (marketing): Eight-way tie for 25th

Chemistry (analytical): Four-way tie for 16th (ranked in 2024)

Chemistry: Seven-way tie for 22nd

Chemistry (inorganic): Three-way tie for 22nd (ranked in 2024)

Computer science (theory): Tied for 11th

College of Education (overall): Tied for 24th

Education (administration): Tied for 11th

Education (curriculum/instruction): Tied for 12th

Education (policy): Tied for 14th

Education (special education): Tied for 12th

College of Engineering (overall): Three-way tie for 22nd

Engineering (aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical): Tied for 17th

Engineering (biomedical/bioengineering): Five-way tie for 12th

Engineering (civil): Four-way tie for 13th

Engineering (computer): 12th

Engineering (electrical): Three-way tie for 22nd

Engineering (industrial/manufacturing/systems): Seven-way tie for 24th

Engineering (materials engineering): Five-way tie for 25th

Library and Information Studies (school library media): Two-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2022)

Mathematics (applied math): 21st (ranked in 2024)

Nursing master鈥檚 (overall): Tied for 12th

Nurse practitioner (adult gerontology acute care): Tied for 11th

Nurse practitioner (family): Tied for 15th

School of Pharmacy (overall): Tied for 14th

Physics (overall): Tied for 20th听

Public Affairs (public policy analysis): 14th

Public Affairs (social policy): Tied for 13th

Public Affairs (urban policy): Three-way tie for 21st

Public Health (health care management): Three-way tie for 16th听

Public Health (health policy and management): 11th

Public Health (social behavior): 13th

Sociology (overall): Two-way tie for 22nd (ranked in 2025)

Sociology (population): Two-way tie for 15th (ranked in 2022)

TOP 35:

Business (analytics): Seven-way tie for 32nd

Business (executive MBA): Three-way tie for 29th

Business (finance): Nine-way tie for 31st

Business (international MBA): Tie for 32nd

Business (production & operations): Five-way tie for 27th

Engineering (chemical): Tied for 28th

Engineering (mechanical): 34th

English: Two-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2025)

Fine arts: 15-way tie for 34th

History: Three-way tie for 31st (ranked in 2025)

Mathematics: Four-way tie for 26th

Occupational Therapy: Tied for 20th

Physical Therapy: Tied for 31st

Political science: Five-way tie for 33rd (ranked in 2025)

For more than a century, American cities have been sliced and diced by high-traffic roadways. Interstate highways and听wide arterials are now a defining feature of most metropolitan areas,听their constant flow of cars spewing pollution into nearby neighborhoods. 听

Researchers have only just begun to understand the health risks posed by all that pollution. Long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution 鈥� a complex mixture of exhaust from tailpipes, brake and tire wear, and road dust 鈥� has been linked to increased rates of , , and . 听

New research from the 天美影视传媒 suggests those health risks are also seen in people traveling busy roads. found that unfiltered air from rush-hour traffic significantly increased passengers鈥� blood pressure, both while in the car and up to 24 hours later.听

鈥淭he body has a complex set of systems to try to keep blood pressure to your brain the same all the time. It鈥檚 a very complex, tightly regulated system, and it appears that somewhere, in one of those mechanisms, traffic-related air pollution interferes with blood pressure,” said , a UW physician and professor of environmental and occupational health sciences who led the study.听听

An by Kaufman鈥檚 lab found that exposure to diesel exhaust fumes increased blood pressure in a controlled environment. The roadway traffic study was designed to test that finding in a real-world setting by isolating the effects of traffic-related air pollution.听

Researchers drove healthy participants between the ages of 22 and 45 through rush-hour Seattle traffic while monitoring their blood pressure. On two of the drives, unfiltered road air was allowed to enter the car, mirroring how many of us drive. On the third, the car was equipped with high-quality HEPA filters that blocked out 86% of particulate pollution. Participants did not know whether they were on a clean air drive or a roadway air drive.听

Breathing unfiltered air resulted in net blood pressure increases of more than 4.50 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) when compared to drives with filtered air. The increase occurred rapidly, peaking about an hour into the drive and holding steady for at least 24 hours. Researchers did not test past the 24-hour mark.听听

The size of the increase is comparable to the effect of a high-sodium diet.听

鈥淲e know that modest increases in blood pressure like this, on a population level, are associated with a significant increase in cardiovascular disease,鈥� Kaufman said. 鈥淭here is a growing understanding that air pollution contributes to heart problems. The idea that roadway air pollution at relatively low levels can affect blood pressure this much is an important piece of the puzzle we鈥檙e trying to solve.鈥�听

The findings also raise questions about ultrafine particles, an unregulated and little-understood pollutant that has become a source of growing concern among public health experts. Ultrafine particles are less than 100 nanometers in diameter, much too small to be seen. Traffic-related air pollution contains high concentrations of ultrafine particles. In the study, unfiltered air contained high levels of ultrafine particles, though the overall level of pollution as measured by fine particle concentration (PM 2.5) was relatively low, equivalent to an AQI of 36.听听

“Ultrafine particles are the pollutant that were most effectively filtered in our experiment 鈥� in other words, where the levels are most dramatically high on the road and low in the filtered environment,鈥� Kaufman said. 鈥淪o, the hint is that ultrafines may be especially important [for blood pressure]. To actually prove that requires further research, but this study provides a very strong clue as to what鈥檚 going on.鈥�听

Traffic-related air pollution is the main cause of air quality variation from community to community in most U.S. metropolitan areas.听

鈥淭his study is exciting because it takes the gold-standard design for laboratory studies and applies it in an on-roadway setting, answering an important question about the health effects of real-world exposures. Studies on this topic often have a challenging time separating the effects of pollution from other roadway exposures like stress and noise, but with our approach the only difference between drive days was air pollution concentration,鈥� said , a former UW postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and lead author of the new study. “The findings are valuable because they can reproduce situations that millions of people actually experience every day.鈥�听

This research was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health.听听

Other authors are , , , and of the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences; of the UW Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and of the Department of Biostatistics.听

For more information or to reach the researchers, contact Alden Woods at acwoods@uw.edu.

As the most serious type of skin cancer, a melanoma diagnosis carries emotional, financial and medical consequences. That鈥檚 why recent studies finding that there is an overdiagnosis of melanoma are a significant cause for concern.

鈥淥verdiagnosis is the diagnosis of disease that will not harm a person in their lifetime. If melanoma is being overdiagnosed, it means that too many people are getting the scary news that they have cancer, and receiving and paying for unnecessary treatment,鈥� said , professor of biostatistics in the UW School of Public Health.

Kerr recently of a study involving more than 100 dermatopathologists 鈥� pathologists who specialize in skin diseases and who diagnose melanoma 鈥� to find out if they believe that melanoma overdiagnosis is a public health issue in the U.S. and whether that belief affects their own conclusions. The pathologists were given biopsy slides to diagnose and were surveyed on their perceptions of overdiagnosis.

Kerr discussed the results of this study, published April 20 in JAMA Dermatology, in the following Q&A with UW News:

How can you know if a disease is being overdiagnosed?

Kathleen Kerr: Overdiagnosis is often studied by looking at population-level data rather than individual cases. Melanoma diagnoses have been rising in the U.S. If there were truly an epidemic of melanoma, we would expect that deaths from melanoma to show a corresponding rise, since there hasn鈥檛 been a major breakthrough in treatment during this time. Yet melanoma deaths have been remarkably constant. This suggests that the rise in melanoma diagnoses is largely due to overdiagnosis.

Why does this happen when it comes to melanoma?

Kerr: The problem is multifaceted. Most of us who aren鈥檛 doctors think that if we have something on our skin that could possibly be cancer, and we get it biopsied, then the pathologist鈥檚 diagnosis after examining the skin tissue under a microscope is definitive. Reality is more complicated.

Skin abnormalities are some of the most challenging cases for pathologists to diagnose. Previous research has shown that different pathologists who examine the same skin biopsy will sometimes give different diagnoses 鈥� to a very surprising degree. The same pathologist examining the same case on two different occasions might even give two substantially different diagnoses.

While advanced melanoma is fairly easy for pathologists to diagnose, difficulties arise for cases where the biopsy shows some kind of abnormality that doesn’t appear to be melanoma but might be a precursor to melanoma. These are the instances where pathologists show the most diagnostic variability, and the cases that raise the possibility of overdiagnosis.

What did find in your study?

Kerr: The first component of our recent paper was a survey of practicing dermatopathologists鈥� perceptions about overdiagnosis. About half perceive that noninvasive melanoma is over-diagnosed and one-third perceive that invasive melanoma is overdiagnosed. Also, a majority of dermatopathologists agree that they see cases that should not have been biopsied in the first place. This points to overdiagnosis as a system-wide issue 鈥� a problem that may be rooted in too many skin biopsies.

The second component of our study was looking for relationships between pathologists鈥� perceptions on overdiagnosis and how they diagnosed actual skin biopsies. We thought that those who think is overdiagnosed might be more reserved in making this diagnosis, but this was not true. In fact, those who think invasive melanoma is overdiagnosed were slightly more likely to diagnose invasive melanoma compared to other dermatopathologists examining the identical cases.

What do you think is the importance of this finding?

Kerr: Overdiagnosis is a really challenging problem because both doctors and patients are wary of missing a cancer, which is understandable. Our study shows there is widespread recognition of melanoma overdiagnosis among dermatopathologists. We also show that awareness of overdiagnosis may not be enough to reduce overdiagnosis. It isn鈥檛 surprising that such a complicated problem won鈥檛 have a simple solution. Reducing overdiagnosis will need to involve patients and primary care doctors having more restraint with obtaining skin biopsies, and pathologists exercising restraint in diagnosing cases as melanoma.

Co-authors are Megan Eguchi and Joann Elmore, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine; Michael Piepkorn, Division of Dermatology, UW School of Medicine, and Dermatopathology Northwest, Bellevue; Andrea Radick, Lisa Reisch and Hannah Shucard, Department of Biostatistics, UW School of Public Health; Stevan Knezevich, Pathology Associates, California; Raymond Barnhill, Institut Curie, Paris Sciences and Lettres Research University and University of Paris, France; David Elder, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

###

For more information, contact Kerr at katiek@uw.edu.

The 天美影视传媒鈥檚 graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to听 rankings released late Monday.

Dozens of UW schools and departments placed prominently in the 2023 rankings 鈥� 41 placed in the top 10, and more than 100 in the top 35.

Leading the nation, the UW School of Medicine ranked No. 1 for both primary care education and for family medicine training. Other notable achievements in the top 10 are nursing, , social work, computer science, , public health and public affairs.

鈥淢eeting the challenges facing our world will require deep expertise, innovation and discovery,鈥� UW President Ana Mari Cauce said. 鈥淚 am proud to see the UW鈥檚 outstanding researchers, educators and healthcare providers recognized for all that they do to address these challenges and train the next generation of professionals and Ph.D.s whose work will help to create a healthier, more equitable and more sustainable world.鈥�

In addition to its No. 1 position in primary care education and family medicine training, the also placed No. 2 among public institutions for research. The school maintains its position as second in the nation in federal grant funding with $966 million of federal grants in 2020.

The received the No. 1 overall ranking for a public school offering a doctor of nursing practice program, and the No. 2 position overall. The nursing schools at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma collectively tied for No. 1 among public schools that offer a master鈥檚 degree, and placed No. 5 overall.

The tied for No. 2 in the nation alongside University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis. This is the highest ranking the school has received since the initiation of this national survey.

Ranked second among public institutions and third overall, the has maintained its top-10 ranking for the sixth consecutive year. The Evans School also ranked in the top 10 in the following areas: environmental policy, public finance and budgeting and nonprofit management.

Information about U.S. News & World Report鈥檚 methodology can be found听.

TOP 10:

Primary care medical schools: 1st

Family medicine: 1st

Law librarianship: 1st (ranked in 2017)

Environmental policy: 2nd

Library and information studies: Tied for 2nd听(ranked in 2022)

Digital librarianship: Tie for 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Information systems (library and information studies): 2nd (ranked in 2022)

Microbiology: Tie for 2nd (ranked in 2019)

School of Social Work (overall): Three-way tie for 2nd

Doctor of Nursing Practice (overall): Three-way tie for 2nd

Biostatistics:听3rd

Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): Five-way tie for 3rd

Computer science (programming language): 4th

Computer science (artificial intelligence): Three-way tie for 5th

Library services for children and youth: Tie for 5th (ranked in 2022)

Education (secondary education): 5th

Nurse practitioner (pediatric acute care): Two-way tie for 5th

Nursing master鈥檚 (overall): 5th

Nonprofit management: 5th

Psychology (clinical): Three-way tie for 5th (2021)

Computer science (overall): Three-way tie for 6th

Education (elementary听education): 6th

Pediatrics: 6th

Physics (nuclear): Two-way tie for 6th

Education (special education): Tie for 7th

Pharmacy: Six-way tie for 7th (ranked in 2021)

Statistics: Four-way tie for 7th

Geriatrics: 7th (ranked in 2018)

Education (curriculum/instruction): 8th

Nurse midwifery: Three-way tie for 8th (ranked in 2021)

Public finance and budgeting: Tie for 8th

Engineering (computer): Four-way tie for 9th

Computer science (systems): 9th

School of Medicine (overall): 9th

School of Public Health (overall): 9th

Speech-language pathology: Six-way tie for 10th (ranked in 2022)

Chemistry (analytical): Two-way tie for 10th

Education (administration): 10th

Genetics/Genomics/Bioinformatics: Six-way tie for 10th

Nurse practitioner (family): 10th

Part-time (evening) MBA: 10th

TOP 25:

Anesthesiology: 19th

Biological sciences: Two-way tie for 23rd

Business (information systems): 17th

Business (marketing): Four-way tie for 22nd

Chemistry: Five-way tie for 25th

Chemistry (inorganic): 22nd

Computer science (theory): 11th

College of Education (overall): Tie for 12th

Earth sciences: 11th

Education (psychology): 13th

Education (policy): Three-way tie for 19th

College of Engineering (overall): Tie for 24th

Engineering (aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical): Three-way tie for 17th

Engineering (biomedical/bioengineering): Five-way tie for 13th

Engineering (chemical): Four-way tie for 20th

Engineering (civil): Eight-way tie for 17th

Engineering (electrical): Six-way tie for 19th

Engineering (environmental/environmental health): Five-way tie for 21st

Engineering (industrial/manufacturing/systems): Three-way tie for 21st

Foster School of Business (overall): Three-way tie for 22nd

Geology: Three-way tie for 15th

Geophysics/seismology: 11th

Health care management: Tie for 15th (ranked in 2019)

Internal medicine: 13th

Law (dispute resolution): Five-way tie for 19th (ranked in 2022)

Local government management: Two-way tie for 18th

Mathematics (applied math): Two-way tie for 18th

Mathematics (analysis): Three-way tie for 22nd

Mathematics (topology): Five-way tie for 20th

Nurse practitioner (adult, acute care): Tie for 13th (ranked in 2019)

Nurse practitioner (psychiatric/mental health): Three-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2021)

Obstetrics and gynecology: Two-way tie for 13th

Occupational therapy: Six-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2021)

Physics: Three-way tie for 20th

Physician assistant: 14th (ranked in 2021)

Psychology: Seven-way tie for 23rd

Public management and leadership: 11th

Public policy analysis: 14th

Radiology: Three-way tie for 16th

School library media: Tie for 11th (ranked in 2022)

Social policy: 12th

Sociology: Three-way tie for 20th (ranked in 2022)

Sociology (population): Tie for 15th (ranked in 2022)

Surgery: Two-way tie for 20th

TOP 35:

Business (accounting): Six-way tie for 28th

Business (management): Four-way tie for 26th

Business (finance): Seven-way tie for 27th

Business (entrepreneurship): Seven-way tie for 27th

Business (executive MBA): Five-way tie for 31st

Engineering (materials): Six-way tie for 27th

Engineering (mechanical): Four-way tie for 34th

English: Seven-way tie for 32nd (ranked in 2022)

History: Four-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2022)

Law (environmental): Three-way tie for 31st

Law (clinical training): Eleven-way tie for 35th

Law (criminal): Seven-way tie for 32nd

Law (intellectual property law): Four-way tie for 28th

Law (tax law): Five-way tie for 34th

Mathematics:听Three-way tie for 26th

Physical therapy: Nine-way tie for 25th (ranked in 2021)

Political science: Three-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2022)

Urban policy: Two-way tie for 27th

The above rankings were those available under embargo. More schools may be listed and this story will be updated.

Twenty scientists and engineers at the 天美影视传媒 are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 . New members were chosen for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥�

Current academy members selected 29 of the new members. An additional nine were elected by virtue of joining one of the National Academies.

New UW members who were elected by current academy members are:

• , professor and Port of Tacoma Chair in Environmental Science at UW Tacoma, director of the and science director of the , 鈥渇or foundational work on the environmental fate, behavior and toxicity of PCBs.鈥�
• , professor of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions in research on racial and gender inequality that has influenced practices in education, government, and business鈥� and 鈥渇or shifting the explanation for inequality away from individual deficiencies and examining how societal stereotypes and structures cause inequalities.鈥�
• , professor of chemistry and member faculty at the , 鈥渇or leadership in the innovative synthesis and chemical modification of nanoscale materials for application in light emission and catalysis.鈥�
• , professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences, and founding director of the , 鈥渇or work on the health impacts of climate change, on climate impact forecasting, on adaptation to climate change and on climate policy to protect health.鈥�
• , professor of environmental and forest sciences and dean emeritus of the College of the Environment, 鈥渇or foundational studies of regional paleoenvironmental history and sustained excellence in academic leadership to catalyze and sustain transformative research and educational initiatives.鈥� Graumlich is also president-elect of the American Geophysical Union.
• Dr. , the Joseph W. Eschbach Endowed Chair in Kidney Research and co-director of the , 鈥渇or pioneering contributions and outstanding achievements in the development of the novel wearable artificial kidney, as well as numerous investigator-initiated clinical trials and multi-center collaborative studies.鈥�
• , professor of environmental chemistry and chair of the Physical Sciences Division at UW Bothell, 鈥渇or leadership in monitoring and understanding the global transport of atmospheric pollutants from energy production, wildfire, and other sources, as well as science communication and service that has informed citizens and enhanced public policy.鈥�
• , professor and chair of psychology, 鈥渇or contributions demonstrating how psychological science can inform long-standing issues about racial and gender discrimination鈥� and 鈥渇or research that has deep and penetrating implications for the law and societal efforts to remedy social inequities with evidence-based programs and actions.鈥�
• , the Leon C. Johnson Professor of Chemistry, member faculty at the and chair of the Department of Chemistry, 鈥渇or developing new spectroscopy tools for measuring energy flow in molecules and materials with high spatial and temporal resolution.鈥�
• , professor of astronomy, 鈥渇or founding the and leading the decades-long development of the interdisciplinary modeling framework and community needed to establish the science of exoplanet astrobiology鈥� and 鈥渇or training the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who will search for life beyond Earth.鈥�
• , professor and chair of aeronautics and astronautics, 鈥渇or leadership and significant advances in nonlinear methods for integrated sensing and control in engineered, bioinspired and biological flight systems鈥� and 鈥渇or leadership in cross-disciplinary aerospace workforce development.鈥�
• , associate professor of chemistry and member faculty with the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, 鈥渇or exceptional contributions to the development of synthetic polymers and nanomaterials for self-assembly and advanced manufacturing with application in sustainability, medicine and microelectronics.鈥�
• Dr. , Associate Dean of Medical Technology Innovation in the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, the Graham and Brenda Siddall Endowed Chair in Cornea Research, and medical director of the UW Eye Institute, 鈥渇or developing and providing first class clinical treatment of severe corneal blindness to hundreds of people, for establishing the world premier artificial cornea program in Washington, and for leading collaborative research to translate innovative engineering technologies into creative clinical solution.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of medicine and director of the , 鈥渇or global recognition as an authority on drug and vaccine development for viral and parasitic diseases through work as an infectious disease physician and immunologist.鈥�
• Dr. , professor of pediatrics and of anesthesiology and pain medicine, and director of the , 鈥渇or outstanding leadership in pediatric anesthesiology and in the care of children with traumatic brain injury鈥� and 鈥渇or internationally recognized expertise in traumatic brain injury and direction of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center for the last decade as an exceptional mentor and visionary leader.鈥�

UW members who will join the Washington State Academy of Sciences by virtue of their election to one of the National Academies are:

• , professor of biostatistics, 鈥渇or the development of novel statistical models for longitudinal data to better diagnose disease, track its trajectory, and predict its outcomes鈥� and 鈥渇or revolutionizing how dynamic predictors are judged by their discrimination and calibration and has significantly advanced methods for randomized controlled trials.鈥� Heagerty was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
• , the Bill and Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science and Engineering, 鈥渇or foundational contributions to the mathematics of computer systems and of the internet, as well as to the design and probabilistic analysis of algorithms, especially on-line algorithms, and algorithmic mechanism design and game theory.鈥� Karlin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor emeritus of applied mathematics and data science fellow at the , 鈥渇or inventing key algorithms for hyperbolic conservation laws and transforming them into powerful numerical technologies鈥� and 鈥渇or creating the Clawpack package, which underpins a wide range of application codes in everyday use, such as for hazard assessment due to tsunamis and other geophysical phenomena.鈥� LeVeque was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , the Benjamin D. Hall Endowed Chair in Basic Life Sciences and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 鈥渇or advancing our physical understanding of cell motility and growth in animals and bacteria鈥� and 鈥渇or discovering how the pathogen Listeria uses actin polymerization to move inside human cells, how crawling animal cells coordinate actomyosin dynamics and the mechanical basis of size control and daughter cell separation in bacteria.鈥� Theriot was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
• , professor and chair of biological structure, 鈥渇or elucidating cellular transformations through which neurons pattern their dendrites, and the interplay of activity-dependent and -independent mechanisms leading to assembly of stereotyped circuits鈥� and 鈥渇or revelations regarding the fundamental principles of neuronal development through the application of an elegant combination of in vivo imaging, physiology, ultrastructure and genetics to the vertebrate retina.鈥� Wong was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

New members to the Washington State Academy of Sciences are scheduled to be inducted at a meeting in September.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine that they 鈥渄o not believe that ignoring race will reduce health disparities鈥� but rather that 鈥渟uch an approach is a form of naive 鈥榗olor blindness鈥� that is more likely to perpetuate and potentially exacerbate disparities,鈥� five Black geneticists set out to explain the pitfalls of leaving race out of medicine.

Importantly, the geneticists , while it is imperative to be considered now in many settings, race is an imperfect stepping stone toward the promise of using genetic ancestry for understanding health risks and tailoring treatments that will 鈥渋mprove Black health.鈥� But there is a lot of work to be done for this future promise to be met.

UW News reached out to co-author , a UW statistical geneticist who is a professor, associate chair of education and director of graduate programs in the Department of听Biostatistics, School of Public Health, to learn more:

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UW News: Why write the article now? What is it that you were trying to capture about the moment we鈥檙e in?

Thornton: Recently there has been renewed interest in the medical community regarding the validity of considering race in clinical practice and healthcare. This debate has been sparked recently by the devastating effects of COVID, which is disproportionately affecting historically marginalized groups in the United States, such as Black Americans and Hispanics.

Some prominent voices have suggested that health disparities can be improved by providing uniform treatment regardless of race. In this article, however, we contend that ignoring race and using clinical algorithms and treatment guidelines based on studies of European ancestry populations can result in even greater health disparities in historically marginalized communities, such as Black Americans.

We also were compelled to write this article now because there is a dearth of Black scientists in the field of genetics and our voices really have not been heard on this topic. As five researchers in genetics who self-identify as Black men, we wanted to let the scientific community and the medical community know our perspective on the use of race in clinical practice and in biomedical research.

UW News: Why is your approach as put forth in the article important to bring into this conversation?

Thornton: I鈥檓 a statistical geneticist and my research is primarily focused on identifying and understanding the genetic components contributing to different health outcomes, and part of this recent discussion has been about the role of race: Is race only a social construct or is it something more than that?

We’re arguing in this article that race has a social component, but it also has a genetic component. Indeed, there are genetic differences between people belonging to different socially constructed racial categories. We think it’s important when we’re talking about race to acknowledge the genetic component as well as the social component.

We believe that there is a genetic component contributing to many health outcome differences we’re seeing by race and ethnicity. Differences in genetic architecture may increase the risk to COVID, for example, in addition to other factors, including co-morbidities and access to adequate healthcare. So, embracing genetic diversity in scientific research and in medicine is an important step to improving health outcomes and health disparities in marginalized communities.

UW News: What are some of the risks involved in including or leaving out race?

Thornton: Clinical algorithms 鈥� determining whether or not individuals should get a certain type of treatment 鈥� have largely been developed based upon people of European descent.听 Applying European-derived clinical algorithms to African Americans is not safe and can result in treatments that are actually harmful, as has been previously shown and that we highlight in our paper.

However, studies that include African Americans or other race/ethnicity groups can lead to medications or treatments that are specialized or tailored to a specific group, which can ultimately result in improved health outcomes. There are certain medications, for example, that have been found to work well in Black participants who were included in clinical trials and that never would have been identified if the results had not been stratified by race, because the drug didn’t do so well in European populations.

We’re trying to convey in this paper that ignoring race in medicine can be problematic and result in unintended consequences, particularly because there are huge health disparities by race in the U.S.; but if race is used appropriately, there is great potential for it to benefit everyone.

We also need to go beyond monolithic grouping of Black Americans. It is important to understand that the genetic ancestry of Black Americans is quite complex with substantial diversity in ancestry. Some Black Americans have more than 90% African ancestry, others actually have as little as 10% African ancestry. We also need to consider the non-negligible Native American ancestry contributions to many African Americans as well.

UW News: How should we view this complexity? How should it inform how we think about medical care?

Thornton: It’s a complex question as well because we’re still in the infancy of really understanding the genetic risk factors in diverse populations. What we’re largely trying to convey here is that there is a need for more studies that incorporate the diverse genomes of populations that are underrepresented in order to better understand risk.

A number of diseases have risk scores based upon a variety of behavioral factors, but we also need to consider contributions to risk scores based upon genetic factors.

Now there are risk algorithms that have been developed, called polygenic risk scores, for genetic factors, but once again they’ve largely been calculated using European studies and we need to build genetic risk scores based upon other populations.

We’re hoping the future of genomic medicine will appropriately incorporate diverse populations so we better understand why individuals from multiethnic populations with diverse genomes have different risk factors, beyond what can be explained by different behavioral risk factors.

UW News: How can health care professionals better communicate these risks and benefits to patients and their families?

Thornton: First, we need to be clear that there鈥檚 still a lot we do not know about the genetic components contributing to risk for a lot of diseases.

We know genetics plays a role in many health outcomes, with increased risk for certain people who have inherited certain genetic variants. In many cases, however, the genetic contributions can be small relative to the nongenetic factors including lifestyle characteristics, such as healthy eating, healthy living, exercise, socioeconomic status and access to affordable healthcare.

So, we need to be honest about what we know and what we don’t know, and I will say that there’s a lot more that we don’t know than we do know about genetic risk factors for many diseases.

And there’s even more that we don’t know about minority and marginalized populations, because they have not been studied very much. But as we get more studies, we will identify novel, new genetic risk factors in Black and other populations that have not been identified in European ancestry populations.

UW News: What about the concern of building even more stereotypes into the system? How would you talk to folks about using genetics without creating more labels about them?

Thornton: This question directly points to what we believe will be essential for personalized medicine of the future. Currently, clinical algorithms and treatment regimens that incorporate race often use self-reported monolithic race groups, saying, for example 鈥� a White individual with certain characteristics has a particular risk factor and/or recommended treatment. And there鈥檚 a different calculated risk and/or treatment for individuals who self-report to be Black.

Hopefully we will be able to get away from socially constructed racial groupings. Ideally, clinical algorithms and treatment guidelines should include genetic ancestry information in addition to, or in lieu of, race. However, we have not yet reached a point where genetic ancestry data are readily available in routine care or where clinicians know what to do with these data. Until then, we just cannot ignore race. We also can’t continue to extrapolate findings from studies in European populations and apply it to minority populations, because neither is going to be equitable or safe.

UW News: How can the health care system better serve Black patients, families and communities?

Thornton: There needs to be a concerted effort to include Black participants in clinical trials, so that we can identify more drugs that work well for this population. That’s the first thing. From the medical side, we need to be included in these clinical trials.

There also needs to be more Black participants included in research studies. I work in genetics and many of the genetic studies that I’ve been involved with have tens or even hundreds of thousands of individuals and only a small proportion of these individuals are non-European. We have to make an effort to do more studies in underrepresented minority populations and with a sufficient number of participants so that there is good chance of actually identifying something meaningful to improve health outcomes in these populations.

Third, we need to train more minority scientists and medical professionals, to guide and be involved in these studies and bring along the next generation.

So those are the three things I think are going to be very important going forward if we’re really going to be successful in closing the health disparities gap in the United States between historically marginalized populations and European ancestry populations.

The 天美影视传媒鈥檚 , or CSDE, along with partners in the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences and the , is among eight awardees across the country selected to develop training programs in advanced data analytics for population health through the National Institutes of Health鈥檚 Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

This five-year, $1.8 million training program at the UW will fund 25 academic-year graduate fellowships, develop a new training curriculum and contribute to methodological advances in health research at the intersection of demography and data science.

The new training program will be led by , assistant professor of sociology, and will build on CSDE鈥檚 graduate certificate in demographic methods by integrating training in advanced statistics and computational methods.

The inaugural cohort will begin the program in October and is composed of graduate students Ian Kennedy, Neal Marquez and Crystal Yu, all in sociology; Emily Pollock in anthropology; and Aja Sutton in geography.

鈥淥ur faculty are at the forefront of research programs grounded in advanced data analytics,鈥� said Robert Stacey, dean of the UW鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淭his grant recognizes the important interdisciplinary work happening across the UW, and particularly in the social sciences, to build this knowledge into much-needed education and training programs.鈥�

, associate professor of sociology and statistics, and , professor of statistics and biostatistics, led听the grant application with support from , director of the CSDE and a professor of international studies, public policy and sociology, along with faculty affiliated with CSDE, CSSS and the eScience Institute.

The NIH review praised UW鈥檚 plans. 鈥淭he leadership team has well-established credentials, complementary expertise, and a strong track record and the proposed program builds on an existing program with demonstrable record of success,鈥� noted reviewers. 鈥淭he curriculum 鈥� which offers coursework in statistical methods, machine learning, coding, databases, data visualization and data ethics 鈥� is well-thought-out and will provide trainees with numerous immersive opportunities.鈥�

This funding was designed to fill educational gaps and needs in the behavioral and social sciences research community that are not being addressed by existing educational opportunities, according to the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The other institutions awarded similar grants include Emory University; Johns Hopkins University; Stanford University; University of Arkansas Medical Center; the University of California, Berkeley; UC San Diego; and UC San Francisco. More information about the national initiative can be found .

For more information, contact Curran at scurran@uw.edu or Almquist at zalmquist@uw.edu.

Adapted from information provided by the UW Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology.

Seven scientists and engineers at the 天美影视传媒 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, according to an July 15 by the academy. One-third of the 21 new members for 2020 hail from the UW.

The new members are lauded for 鈥渢heir outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement and their willingness to work on behalf of the academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.鈥� The academy鈥檚 current membership selected 17 of the new members, and four were chosen by virtue of their election to one of the .

New UW members who were elected by academy members are:

• , the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of the College of Engineering and professor of bioengineering, 鈥渇or outstanding contributions to the design and application of microtechnologies to biomedical research, leadership in interdisciplinary research and education, and entrepreneurial excellence.鈥�
• , professor of chemistry and of materials science and engineering, 鈥渇or the development of controlled polymerization reactions for conjugated polymers, especially alkyl-thiophenes, for organic electronics applications.鈥澨齃uscombe is also a faculty member with the , the and the .
• , professor of Earth and space sciences, 鈥渇or fundamental contributions to geomorphology, for the elucidation of soils, rivers, and landscapes as underpinnings of ecological systems and human societies, and for reaching broad audiences through trade books on agriculture, microbes, creationism, and fisheries.鈥�
• Sue Moore, research scientist at the in the Department of Biology, 鈥渇or contributions to the understanding of Arctic marine ecosystems and pioneering the integration of Conventional Science and Indigenous Knowledge to yield better policy decisions.鈥�
• , professor of pharmacology, 鈥渇or exceptional contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which ubiquitin ligases, as a new class of enzymes, control protein ubiquitination in human physiology and diseases, as well as plant growth and development.鈥�

UW members who were chosen by virtue of their election to one of the National Academies are:

• , professor of biostatistics and of epidemiology at the UW and a faculty member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 鈥渇or pioneering work in the field of designing and analyzing vaccine studies, including studies of HIV vaccines and innovative use of mathematical and statistical methods to study infectious disease.鈥� Halloran was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.
• , professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, 鈥渇or contributions to geotechnical earthquake engineering, including liquefaction, seismic stability and seismic site response.鈥� Kramer was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2020.

New members are to be inducted at the annual members meeting, which is currently scheduled for September.

Included with most of these services is the ability for users to download their 鈥渞aw鈥� genetic data, which can be further analyzed using third-party apps. But little is known about how and why consumers are using these apps, or about a variety of potential risks associated with these apps 鈥� such as false positives about health information or unknowingly linking a family history to an unsolved crime.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the proverbial 鈥榳ild West鈥� of genetic interpretation,鈥� said , a 天美影视传媒 research scientist in the Department of Biostatistics who recently completed her doctorate in the School of Public Health. She鈥檚 the lead author of a new paper, 鈥淭hird-party genetic interpretation tools: a mixed-methods study of consumer motivation and behavior,鈥� that was published today in听.

The team surveyed more than 1,000 people who had paid to obtain their genetic profile through a service like 23andMe or AncestryDNA. Most respondents reported that they downloaded data and went on to use a third-party application like Promethease or GEDmatch.

鈥淲e found that individuals who are initially motivated to learn about ancestry and genealogy frequently end up engaging with health interpretations of their genetic data, too. This has implications for the regulation of such testing and interpretation practices,鈥� said , associate professor of bioethics and humanities, UW School of Medicine, and the senior author of the paper.

The study found that nearly all consumers who took the survey (89%) download their raw data and more than half of those who downloaded also used third-party tools (56%) to research both genealogical and ancestry information on third-party sites.

But third-party interpretation is largely unregulated and there are potential risks for consumers, Nelson said. And there are unanswered questions: What did you consent to? What do you think your data is going to be used for?

It鈥檚 often unclear what happens to the consumer data once it鈥檚 provided to a third-party tool. There are privacy risks, and even the chance that the genetic data may help law enforcement solve crimes. Researchers worry about accuracy, data privacy, reliability and the nation鈥檚 limited health resources.

False positives for health conditions can also cause emotional strain and put pressure on an already taxed health care system. People may find out about potentially serious diseases without much context or a support system.

On the other hand, third-party tools can also enable crowdsourced research and encourage people to learn about genetics.

Overall, Nelson is pleased that more people are taking an interest in genomics, but more research is needed on how people are using their information.

鈥淲e just had very little data on this,鈥� Nelson said.

, a UW professor of bioethics and humanities, also co-authored the paper.

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For more information, contact Nelson at sarahcn@uw.edu.

Interview transcription was supported by funds from the UW Institute for Public Health Genetics. This work was partially supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) CSER Consortium, U01 HG006507 and U24 HG007307 (Jarvik, PI). This research used statistical consulting resources provided by the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences at UW. REDCap and the Participant Portal at ITHS are supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1 TR002319.

Various reviews and international assessments have come to different conclusions about whether glyphosate leads to cancer in humans.

The research team conducted an updated meta-analysis 鈥� a comprehensive review of existing literature 鈥� and focused on the most highly exposed groups in each study. They found that the link between glyphosate and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma is stronger than previously reported.

Their findings were published this month in the online journal .

鈥淥ur analysis focused on providing the best possible answer to the question of whether or not glyphosate is carcinogenic,鈥� said senior author , a professor in the UW departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Biostatistics. 鈥淎s a result of this research, I am even more convinced that it is.鈥�

By examining epidemiologic studies published between 2001 and 2018, the team determined that exposure to glyphosate may increase the risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma by as much as 41 percent. The authors focused their review on epidemiological research in humans but also considered the evidence from laboratory animals.

鈥淭his research provides the most up-to-date analysis of glyphosate and its link with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, incorporating a 2018 study of more than 54,000 people who work as licensed pesticide applicators,鈥� said co-author Rachel Shaffer, a UW doctoral student in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.

鈥淭hese findings are aligned with a prior assessment from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which classified glyphosate as a 鈥榩robable human carcinogen鈥� in 2015,” Shaffer said.

Glyphosate first was introduced as an herbicide in 1974. Usage in the agricultural industry has soared, particularly since the mid-2000s when the practice of 鈥済reen burndown鈥� was introduced, in which glyphosate-based herbicides are applied to crops shortly before harvest. As a consequence, crops now are likely to have higher residues of glyphosate.

Researchers say more studies are needed to account for the effects of increased exposures from green burndown, which may not be fully captured in the existing studies reviewed in this new publication.

Co-authors include Luoping Zhang and Iemaan Rana in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and Emanuela Taioli in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences award听听and the听天美影视传媒 Retirement Association Aging Fellowship.

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For more information, contact Sheppard at 206-616-2722 or sheppard@uw.edu.