In the three-and-a-half years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization, the fragmented state of abortion access has put medical professionals in a precarious position. Many states have tightened abortion restrictions, with some enacting criminal penalties up to in for physicians who perform abortions. Medical schools have

New research led in part by the 天美影视传媒 found that the new restrictions are not only affecting the current medical workforce 鈥� they may be shaping the next generation of physicians. The study, , found that applications to medical residency programs in states that enacted new abortion restrictions dropped sharply following the Dobbs ruling.

The decrease occurred among both male and female applicants. Applications to specialties related to reproductive health 鈥� obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine 鈥� saw the largest decreases.

The new study builds on that had shown decreased application rates to residency programs in states with abortion restrictions by applying causal methodologies to understand the impact of the Supreme Court decision and isolating results from male and female applicants.

鈥淭his research provides important empirical evidence about how state-level policy changes following Dobbs may influence decisions made by medical trainees about where to pursue their graduate medical education,鈥� said co-author , a UW professor of health economics and director of the Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy, and Economics (CHOICE) Institute.

To learn more about the research, UW News sat down the paper鈥檚 three authors: Basu; lead author , assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and co-author , assistant clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of Arizona. Both Ganguly and Morenz completed their internal medicine residencies at the UW School of Medicine.

The medical residency match process is quite different from traditional higher-ed applications. Can you explain how that works, and how it relates to your study鈥檚 findings?

Dr. Anna Morenz: Applicants may apply to as many programs as they want, with some applying to dozens of programs. At the end of interviews, they鈥檒l rank those programs based on their preferred landing spots. The programs, in turn, will rank all the applicants that they received. A computer algorithm then matches everyone with the goal of filling all the residency slots, and it鈥檚 very good at that. We know that . So programs are still filling their residency slots even in states with restrictions.

What concerns us about these findings is that there’s an early signal of people avoiding applications to these states. That has potential implications for the quality of the applicants to restricted states, which could not be assessed in our data. There’s typically a high likelihood that people stay where they train for their residency, but if you landed in a restricted state that was low on your rank list, you may be more likely to complete your training and then leave to a non-restricted state. We aim to look at this very important question in projects to come.

Anisha and Anna, you鈥檙e both practicing primary care physicians. How big a part of a physician鈥檚 training is abortion and other pregnancy-related care?听

Dr. Anisha Ganguly: It鈥檚 not a big part of our training traditionally, though there has been a movement to integrate more abortion care into primary care residencies. That鈥檚 more the case in family medicine rather than internal medicine, because medication abortion has now become the most common means for abortion care. As internists, we commonly diagnose pregnancies and care for women with medical conditions as they consider family planning.

AM: I do think it’s important to note that a huge percentage of primary care physicians are trained in family medicine. And family medicine physicians are trained in delivery of babies, management of prenatal care, miscarriage management, contraception and abortion. Anisha and I trained in internal medicine, and there is increasing interest to include medication abortion training in internal medicine, as it is fully within our scope of practice.

The effects of the Dobbs decision have been well-documented, and previous work on this topic highlighted changes in OB/GYN residency applications. What鈥檚 new in your study specifically?听

Anirban Basu: We had a much longer pre-period than previous studies. We looked back to 2019 to see what had been happening to application rates in these two kinds of states 鈥� those that eventually restricted abortion access and those that didn鈥檛 鈥� and we showed that these rates had been moving similarly until the ruling. That gives a little more weight to the evidence to say the change is due to the ruling.听

The second big thing is that previous studies did not distinguish whether men and women were changing their behavior similarly. I think that鈥檚 a very important finding in our study, that male applicants are changing their behavior at an even higher rate.听

AG: I agree that the gender stratification was an important contribution. The other stratified analysis that we explored was about how specialty type may be driving some of the effects that we saw. A lot of people can reason that OB/GYN applicants would be affected by this directly, and there’s a lot of literature to support that. But what we’re showing is that it’s not just the OB/GYN workforce that’s going to be impacted. It’s the primary care workforce and the emergency medicine workforce.听

We’re hoping that message spreads a little more broadly. This is not just about women’s health. It’s about the future of primary care and the person who’s going to save you from your heart attack in the future.

Let鈥檚 talk a little more about that gender stratification. You found that male applicants changed their application preferences at a greater rate than female applicants, which looks like a surprising result. What鈥檚 going on there?听

AG: When we generated our original hypotheses, we thought we were going to see increased effects among women applying to residency, but we actually ended up seeing that there were long-term disparities that existed pre-Dobbs between restricted and non-restricted states. This was likely because of the and other state-level laws that were affecting women’s behavior. What we’re seeing is that women had been reading the tea leaves about access to reproductive health care prior to the Dobbs decision, but the decision did unmask a wider problem that drove a lot of new behavior among men.

One of the messages that we are getting from this paper is this is an 鈥渁ll of us鈥� problem. It’s not just about women physicians. It’s about men who are also making choices about their professional autonomy and also about access to reproductive health care for their families. Women have been and will be considering their personal access to care and autonomy before this decision, but perhaps these state restrictions after Dobbs may have newly increased awareness among men.听

Among all these shifts, you found one group whose application rates didn鈥檛 change significantly: people applying to highly competitive medical specialities. What do you think explains that stickiness?听

AG: Anna and I had brainstormed about this being a potential effect modifier, because people who are applying in highly competitive specialties like orthopedic surgery or dermatology apply very broadly and don’t get to exercise a lot of choice about where to go. Whereas for large specialities like internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics, there are a lot of programs in a lot of places, so applicants have more options. In those cases, state-level policies like abortion restrictions can factor more into people鈥檚 decision-making.

At an institutional level, what changes could be made to address these trends?听

AG: Institutions can make choices to mitigate some of these effects by supporting candidates with access to reproductive care within the scope of the restrictions that exist. Other industries are building in travel benefits for women who may need to travel to access these services.听

It’s not this aspect of a decision alone that shapes a residency applicant鈥檚 choice to go to a specific place or program. But there are other things that institutions can do to make trainees, particularly women, feel supported and valued. If you’re existing in an environment where state policies make women feel a lack of autonomy, then there are workforce policies that can be in place to bolster that sense of autonomy. That could take the shape of parental leave policies, lactation policies, other things that institutions can do to make women feel like, even if this part of your voice has been taken away, we’ll help you with the rest.

AB: One policy that has a long history of literature supporting it is financial incentives. Physicians do respond to financial incentives, but in many cases those incentives need to be quite steep to get people to change their decisions.听

AM: The other option is training opportunities. A lot of programs in states that had laws or restrictions that preceded the Dobbs decision would set up partnerships with organizations in another state where they could send their trainees to learn about pregnancy termination and miscarriage management. That鈥檚 a burden on residency programs and residents both. You have to set up housing and travel agreements. But that鈥檚 another key thing that programs need to keep in mind in order to recruit applicants.听

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

Neurodivergent adults, such as those on the autism spectrum, or with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, or other cognitive differences, experience significant barriers to inclusion in education and employment due to disabilities that often aren鈥檛 obvious. Research shows听that remain consistently employed over time, and just are employed, compared to 87% employment among adults without ADHD. Studies suggest that is neurodivergent. Accordingly, efforts to improve the neuroinclusivity of academic institutions and workplaces have significant potential for impact on individuals, families and the U.S. economy.

鈥淭he lower education and employment outcomes are largely attributed to education and workplace environments that were designed to reinforce normative expectations,鈥� said , UW associate professor in the Information School and founding director of the Institute. 鈥淲hen learning and work environments are designed for neurodiversity 鈥� and managers and teachers are trained to be neuroinclusive 鈥� neurodivergent individuals achieve far better outcomes.鈥�

Annabi is a leading scholar on neurodiversity and employment. Her work in this space includes the publication of a series of Neurodiversity @ Work Playbooks that make a case for hiring neurodivergent people and offer concrete instructions for supporting their growth and career development.

鈥淭he Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment is set up to make a significant difference 鈥� not just at the 天美影视传媒, but for communities all over our state,鈥� said , executive director of the Canopy Neurodiversity Foundation. 鈥淭his institute will build on Canopy鈥檚 vision for a truly neuroinclusive workforce, dramatically expanding what鈥檚 possible in our state.鈥�

Housed in the Information School, the Institute will integrate faculty, research and support from the and the , with additional collaboration from UW Medicine and the School of Social Work.

鈥淭he new institute will build upon the outstanding neurodiversity work of Dr. Annabi at the Information School,鈥� said , dean of the UW Information School. 鈥淎dding the deep expertise of our cross-campus collaborators, along with Canopy and other community partners, we will create truly multidisciplinary, innovative and impactful solutions that will transform Washington鈥檚 education and employment spaces 鈥� including here at the UW.鈥�

鈥淎t present, research addressing lifespan issues such as employment is happening in silos across various disciplines, limiting our ability to develop comprehensive solutions,鈥� said Annabi. 鈥淏y convening a broad coalition of partners across the neurodiversity, employment and academic communities, we can move beyond isolated efforts toward innovative, systems-level change 鈥� driven by those with lived experience and deep expertise.鈥�

The Institute鈥檚 work will focus on five pillars: translational research on neurodiversity and employment, applied professional education and training, community empowerment across Washington state, advocacy efforts to create and strengthen neuroinclusive policies and practices statewide, and direct engagement with UW leadership to make the university a premier destination for neurodivergent faculty, staff, clinicians and students.

Annabi is particularly enthusiastic about the UW鈥檚 commitment to 鈥榳alk the talk鈥� by committing, through the Institute, to neuroinclusive employment practices.

“The UW recognizes that employment is an important component of a person鈥檚 quality of life and the equitable distribution of societal resources and power,鈥� said UW Provost Tricia Serio.听 “As one of the state鈥檚 largest employers, we have a vital role to play in modeling ways to increase support for neurodivergent people and break down the persistence of barriers in post-secondary education and the workplace that they face. We are thrilled to channel this work through the Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment.鈥�

The UW Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment will launch activities and programming in 2026.

###

For questions, please contact: neurodiversity@uw.edu.

Twelve faculty members at the 天美影视传媒 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. They are among 36 scientists and educators from across the state July 17 as new members. Election recognizes the new member鈥檚 鈥渙utstanding record of scientific and technical achievement and willingness to assist the Academy in providing the best available scientific information and technical understanding to inform complex policy decisions in Washington.鈥�听

The UW faculty members were selected by current WSAS members or by their election to national science academies. Eleven were voted on by current WSAS members:听

, professor, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair, and director of the Paul G. 听Allen School for Computer Science & Engineering, for 鈥渃ontributions in data management for data science, big data systems, cloud computing and image/video analytics and leadership in data science education.鈥�听

professor of civil & environmental engineering and of industrial & systems engineering, for 鈥減ioneering work in human mobility analysis and infrastructure resilience, which have transformed transportation systems in terms of both demand and supply, and shaped the future directions of transportation systems research on community-based solutions and disaster resilience.鈥�听

Lloyd and Kay Chapman Endowed Chair for Oral Health and associate dean for research in the UW School of Dentistry, and professor in the Department of Health Systems & Population Health, for 鈥渓eadership in understanding and addressing children’s oral health inequities through community-based socio-behavioral interventions and evidence-based policies.鈥�听

professor of biology, for 鈥渋nternationally recognized leadership in the biology of sleep, including groundbreaking research on molecular and genetic aspects of the brain, human behavioral studies on learning under varied sleep schedules, and contributions that have shaped policy on school schedules and standard time.鈥�听

, the Virginia and Prentice Bloedel professor of physics and of electrical & computer engineering, for 鈥渇oundational contributions to fundamental and applied research on the optical and spin properties of quantum point defects in crystals and for service and leadership in the quantum community.鈥� 听

, professor and chair of human centered design and engineering, for 鈥渁ward-winning leadership in HCI computing, whose research has advanced health and education technology, influenced policy, and shaped the HCI field of through impactful scholarship, interdisciplinary collaboration and inclusive, real-world technology design.鈥�听

, professor and associate dean for research in the UW School of Social Work, for 鈥渃ontributions to understanding psychosocial and physiological factors that moderate the effectiveness of their interventions and ultimately improve the health of children with abdominal pain disorders.鈥�听

, professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and of pharmacy, 鈥渇or leadership in health economics and cancer research, including work on financial toxicity, cost- effectiveness, and healthcare policy that has influenced national discussions, improved cancer care access, and shaped policies for equitable and sustainable healthcare.鈥� Ramsey is also Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at Fred Hutch.听

, professor of bioengineering and Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the UW School of Medicine, for 鈥渘ational leadership in biomedical research, research policy, and graduate education, including pioneering novel drug delivery approaches for regenerative medicine applications in the nervous system and other tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendon and skin.鈥�听

, Rabinowitz Endowed Professor of Earth and space sciences, for 鈥渞evolutionizing our understanding of climate change in Antarctica through pioneering ice core extractions under hazardous Antarctic conditions and their subsequent analyses over two decades, and for applying that expertise to advance climate research in Washington State.鈥�听

, professor of pharmaceutics, for 鈥減ioneering contributions to pharmaceutical and translational sciences, including groundbreaking research on drug transporters, PBPK modeling and maternal-fetal pharmacology that have helped shaped drug safety policies.鈥�听

The Academy also welcomed new members who were selected by virtue of their election to the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine. Among them is , the Arthur B. McDonald professor of physics and director of the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. Hertzog was elected to the National Academy of Sciences last year. 听

is a third-year doctoral student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and a military spouse. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on global health and conservation.

earned a degree in Economics from the US Air Force Academy, and served nearly nine years on active duty, leading Pararescue teams on three deployments to the Middle East and Africa. He earned a master鈥檚 degree in Emergency and Disaster Management and is now in his final year at the 天美影视传媒 School of Medicine.

Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, the 42 new scholars join a community of changemakers dedicated to making a positive difference across fields such as medicine, law, education, public policy, technology and the arts.

In 2002, Pat Tillman put his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals on hold to serve his country. In 2004, his family and friends started the to carry forward that legacy. The foundation provides academic scholarships and support to elite military service members, veterans and spouses to help them reach their fullest potential as leaders 鈥� no matter how they choose to serve.

Learn more at the.

Every day, hundreds of workers across Washington state are hurt on the job. Some lose their lives. Many of the industries that shaped the state 鈥� forestry, fishing, agriculture 鈥� are riddled with risk.听听

The 天美影视传媒 has for years been instrumental in the state鈥檚 efforts to keep workers safe. UW experts study workplace hazards like the toxic fumes inhaled by nail salon workers and the worsening heat waves faced by agricultural workers east of the Cascades. The UW鈥檚 training and education programs, from undergraduate education to continuing education for industry professionals, prepare trainees to oversee health and safety programs for businesses across the state. UW experts consult with businesses on how to keep workers safe and productivity high. And a provides specialized care to injured workers.听

鈥淲orker health and safety is a vital component of what the 天美影视传媒 does,鈥� said , a UW assistant professor of environmental & occupational health sciences.听

But those efforts are now under threat. This year, the federal government has dramatically cut the programs that fund worker safety efforts like those at the UW. In April, the Trump administration of the (NIOSH), the federal agency dedicated to worker safety. The agency has closed nearly all its research and training programs, creating uncertainty over whether funding will continue. 听

NIOSH has long been a significant source of funding for UW鈥檚 occupational health and safety research and training programs, complementing core funding from the state. Without federal support, much of that work will stop in its tracks. That means less research into the hazards workers face, and fewer people who are trained to mitigate those risks and treat workplace injuries and illnesses.听

Ultimately, Baker fears workers across Washington will feel the impact.听

鈥淚 suspect that if the cuts to NIOSH are maintained and the work that we’re doing here at the 天美影视传媒 no longer continues, the number of workers who are injured or lose their lives in Washington is going to go up,鈥� Baker said.听听

Federal funds support the (NWCOHS), which prepares graduate students to work in occupational health and safety and provides continuing education to industry professionals. The NWCOHS addresses the need for specialists in occupational medicine by supporting training programs for physicians.听

Trainees work out of specialty clinics, including the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic at Harborview Medical Center, which treats patients who are injured on the job. Physicians at the clinic learn how to connect workplace exposures to patients鈥� health outcomes and craft treatment plans to help workers recover and safely return to work.听

听鈥淚t’s a unique combination of medicine and public health. We鈥檙e thinking about individual patients who are sitting in front of us, and also how to prevent workplace injuries and illness for populations of workers鈥� said , research associate professor of environmental & occupational health sciences and former director of the occupational & environmental medicine program at the UW. 鈥淭he goal is for workers and patients to be healthy and feel gratification from the work they’re doing, which often contributes to a healthy and productive workplace.鈥�听

The benefits aren鈥檛 theoretical 鈥� the UW鈥檚 occupational health and safety work has led directly to improved working conditions for some of the state鈥檚 most essential workers.听听

Consider forestry and agricultural workers, who experience higher rates of workplace injury and death on the job. For decades, the UW鈥檚 (PNASH) has received federal funding through a NIOSH program focused exclusively on agricultural workers鈥� health and safety. PNASH experts have built deep ties across the state, working in collaboration with community members and industry partners to build safer, stronger workplaces.听听

A few years ago, PNASH researchers learned that workers tasked with applying pesticides weren鈥檛 always properly wearing their protective equipment and faced frequent exposure to these hazardous chemicals. Researchers leaned into community and industry connections to better understand the barriers. Then they got to work on solutions.

PNASH developed practical training that allows pesticide applicators to see how the sprays drift through the air by using a fluorescent tracer that lights up on clothes or skin. They studied how workers typically apply pesticides and suggested new methods that ensured the chemicals hit their target and didn鈥檛 drift onto workers. And they built tools to translate the warning labels on pesticide containers, which were written almost entirely in English, into Spanish, the primary language of many farm workers.听

The developed in collaboration with farmers, educators and researchers across the state, is designed to benefit both workers and their employers.听

鈥淎 unique role that we have at the UW is being able to listen to those who don鈥檛 have the ability to individually contact their employer or to contact the state, and to really make their voice heard,鈥� said , a UW assistant professor of environmental & occupational health sciences whose research focuses on protecting agricultural workers. 鈥淎nd we work with a wide variety of partners to really engage those essential workers that are growing our food and fishing in dangerous waters and understand how we can return information to them that’s actionable, meaningful and practical.鈥�听

NIOSH funds make that work possible. But the White House has proposed eliminating all federal funding for agricultural worker health and safety, putting PNASH鈥檚 funding in jeopardy. Leaders are searching for alternate funding to support the center鈥檚 critical services.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e very concerned about this sudden change in federal focus and lack of resources being allocated to health and safety research,鈥� Austin said. 鈥淲e worry about our region in particular, that our workers are going to suffer and our businesses are going to have to bear the cost.鈥�听

Think of your last memorable moment in nature. Did you spot a bird you鈥檝e never seen before? Dip your toes in a river? Maybe climb a tree?

New research from the 天美影视传媒, recently published in the , examined whether children鈥檚 interactions with nature that are embodied, rather than just visual, are associated with being in the moment and feeling connected to something beyond the self.

Researchers coded responses from 127 Girl Scouts, ages 8-11, about a recent meaningful nature experience. A questionnaire then assessed the degree to which participants experienced presence in nature, the study鈥檚 term for being in the moment. Exploratory analyses found that participants who had embodied interactions reported a greater sense of presence in nature than those who reported only visual interactions.听

, co-author of the study and doctoral student of psychology at the UW, talked with UW News about the study.

Can you explain the difference between embodied and visual interactions with nature?

Carly Gray: We think of embodied nature interactions as engaging senses other than just vision. One鈥檚 whole body is often involved. Whether you鈥檙e moving or being still, you鈥檙e experiencing nature through more than just your eyes. A visual nature interaction is one that just uses the sense of vision 鈥� maybe watching a bird through a window or looking at the textures in a leaf.

To identify visual and embodied interactions in the study, we applied what we call an interaction pattern approach, which is a way of characterizing the how humans interact with nature. A relatively abstract interaction pattern could be something like 鈥渓istening to animals.鈥� That interaction pattern could encompass more specific interactions ranging from 鈥渉earing your neighbor鈥檚 dog bark鈥� to 鈥渉earing birdsong in a forest.鈥�

That leads us to the idea of presence. How do you use that term in the context of this study, and how does it tie in with the other ideas you were discussing?听

CG: We think of presence as a meaningful experience with optimal awareness and some sense of connection beyond the self 鈥� whether that鈥檚 the natural environment that one is in, some higher power, other people you鈥檙e with, or something else. It鈥檚 frankly difficult to put into words, which I think speaks to some of the power of what these experiences can feel like. In this study, we were looking specifically at presence in nature.

How did you then quantify this information?

CG: We developed questions based on existing measures and created some questions of our own. We used these questions to ask the Girl Scouts about their experience of presence in nature during the experiences they had just written about.

We asked the Girl Scouts to write about a meaningful nature experience and tell us where they were, what they were doing and why the experience was meaningful. We combed through these written narratives to identify interaction patterns and developed a coding manual to describe how to do this in a standardized way. After reading through half of these nature experiences, we looked at the interaction patterns and noticed that a lot of them were relying on vision. Primarily, we noticed a lot of verbs like seeing, watching, looking, staring. For example, a visual nature interaction would be 鈥渓ooking at a tall tree.鈥�

We wanted to know what might be different between the Girl Scouts who reported solely visual experiences versus more embodied nature experiences. The Girl Scouts who engaged in nature using more action-oriented verbs 鈥� talking, listening, smelling, feeling 鈥� engaged in embodied nature interactions. For example, 鈥渂uilding a snowman鈥� and 鈥渉iking on a trail鈥� came up in a few participants鈥� narratives. We considered these embodied nature interactions. Some of my other favorite examples were 鈥渢alking to chickens,鈥� 鈥渏umping in puddles,鈥� and 鈥渢hrowing snowballs.鈥�

Based on their interaction patterns, some Girl Scouts were categorized as having only had visual experiences. If a Girl Scout wrote about at least one interaction that used a non-visual verb, they were categorized as having had an embodied experience. We compared these two groups, embodied and only visual, based on their numeric scores on our measure of presence in nature and found that the Girl Scouts who reported embodied nature interactions also reported a stronger sense of presence in nature.

What are some potential practical implications of this research?

CG: I think this is a promising first step into understanding what it might mean to have a meaningful experience in nature, especially among young children. In this paper, we wrote specifically about applications to environmental education. For example, children can be encouraged to smell nature by finding nature items that smell good to them, like pinecones or flowers, and bringing those back to the classroom for an age-appropriate ecology lesson. A writing lesson could begin with students listening to nature with their eyes closed and then writing a creative short story about what they imagined they heard. We expect these embodied educational activities might foster a greater connection to nature and a sense of meaning through experiences of presence in nature.

We conducted this study with 8-to-11-year-old Girl Scouts, but I think it could have implications for educating young people of all ages. In my teaching, I鈥檓 a big fan of getting whole bodies involved in the learning process. So, I think this idea of embodied versus visual interactions with nature could be applied all the way from preschoolers to through college students.

Embodied nature interactions don鈥檛 need to be limited to educational settings, either. This idea of embodied versus visual nature interactions can be a helpful framework for parents and families to think about meaningful ways to spend time interacting with nature with their children. This Earth Day, consider how you can go beyond looking at spring flowers to engage with nature in more fully embodied ways.

Other co-authors were , UW professor of psychology and of environmental and forest sciences; , UW professor of environmental and forest sciences; , associate professor of pediatrics in the UW School of Medicine; , UW associate professor of environmental and forest sciences; , lead public health research scientist at ICF, who earned her doctorate in environmental and forest sciences at the UW; and of the Girl Scouts of Western Washington.

The study was funded by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

For more information, contact Carly Gray at cgray19@uw.edu.

In most doctors鈥� offices these days, you鈥檒l find a pattern: Everybody鈥檚 Googling, all the time. Physicians search for clues to a diagnosis, or for reminders on the best treatment plans. Patients scour WebMD, tapping in their symptoms and doomscrolling a long list of possible problems.听听

But those constant searches leave something to be desired. Doctors don鈥檛 have the time to sift through pages of results, and patients don鈥檛 have the knowledge to digest medical research. Everybody has trouble finding the most reliable information.听听

Optimists believe artificial intelligence could help solve those problems, but the bots might not be ready for prime time. In a , , a 天美影视传媒 research professor of environmental & occupational health sciences and of neurology in the UW School of Medicine, described a troubling experience with Google鈥檚 Gemini chatbot. When Franklin asked Gemini for information on the outcomes of a specific procedure 鈥� a decompressive brachial plexus surgery 鈥� the bot gave a detailed answer that cited two medical studies, neither of which existed. 听

Franklin wrote that it鈥檚 鈥渂uyer beware when it comes to using AI Chatbots for the purposes of extracting accurate scientific information or evidence-based guidance.鈥� He recommended that AI experts develop specialized chatbots that pull information only from verified sources.听听

One expert working toward a solution is , a UW assistant professor in the Information School who focuses on making AI better at understanding and relaying scientific information. Wang has developed tools to , , and .听

UW News sat down with Franklin and Wang to discuss how AI could enhance health care, what鈥檚 standing in the way, and whether there’s a downside to democratizing medical research.听听

Each of you has studied the possibilities and perils of AI in health care, including the experiences of patients who ask chatbots for medical information. In a best-case scenario, how do you envision AI being used in health and medicine?听

Gary Franklin: Doctors use Google a lot, but they also rely on services like which provide really great summaries of medical information and research. Most doctors have zero time and just want to be able to read something very quickly that is well documented. So from a physician鈥檚 perspective trying to find truthful answers, trying to make my practice more efficient, trying to coordinate things better 鈥� if this technology could meaningfully contribute to any of those things, then it would be unbelievably great.听

I’m not sure how much doctors will use AI, but for many years, patients have been coming in with questions about what they found on the internet, . AI is just the next step of patients doing this, getting some guidance about what to do with the advice they鈥檙e getting. As an example, if a patient sees a surgeon who’s overly aggressive and says they need a big procedure, the patient could ask an AI tool what the broader literature might recommend. And I have concerns about that.听

Lucy Lu Wang: I’ll take this question from the clinician’s perspective, and then from the patient’s perspective.听听

From the clinician’s perspective, I agree with what Gary said. Clinicians want to look up information very quickly because they’re so taxed and there’s limited time to treat patients. And you can imagine if the tools that we have, these chatbots, were actually very good at searching for information and very good at citing accurately, that they could become a better replacement for a type of tool like UpToDate, right? Because UpToDate is good, it鈥檚 human-curated, but it doesn鈥檛 always contain the most fine-grained information you might be looking for.听

These tools could also potentially help clinicians with patient communication, because there’s not always enough time to follow up or explain things in a way that patients can understand. It鈥檚 an add-on part of the job for clinicians, and that鈥檚 where I think language models and these tools, in an ideal world, could be really beneficial.听

Lastly, on the patient鈥檚 side, it would be really amazing to develop these tools that help with patient education and help increase the overall health literacy of the population, beyond what WebMD or Google does. These tools could engage patients with their own health and health care more than before.听听

Zooming out from the individual to the systemic, do you see any ways AI could make health systems as a whole function more smoothly?听

GF: One thing I鈥檓 curious about is whether these tools can be used to help with coordination across the health care system and between physicians. It’s horrible. There was a book called 鈥�鈥� that argued the main problem in American medicine is poor coordination across specialties, or between primary care and anybody else. It’s still horrible, because there’s no function in the medical field that actually does that. So that’s another question: Is there a role here for this kind of technology in coordinating health care?听

LLW: There’s been a lot of work on tools that can summarize a patient’s medical history in their clinical notes, and that could be one way to perform this kind of communication between specialties. There鈥檚 another component, too: If patients can directly interact with the system, we can construct a better timeline of the patient’s experiences and how that relates to their clinical medical care.听

We鈥檝e done qualitative research with health care seekers that suggests there are lots of types of questions that people are less willing to ask their clinical provider, but much more willing to put into one of these models. So the models themselves are potentially addressing unmet needs that patients aren鈥檛 willing to directly share with their doctors.听

What鈥檚 standing in the way of these best-case scenarios?听听

LLW: I think there are both technical challenges and socio-technical challenges. In terms of technical challenges, a lot of these models鈥� training doesn鈥檛 currently make them effective for tasks like scientific search and summarization. 听

First, these current chatbots are mostly trained to be general-purpose tools, so they’re meant to be OK at everything, but not great at anything. And I think there will be more targeted development towards these more specific tasks, things like scientific search with citations that Gary mentioned before. The current training methods tend to produce models that are instruction-following, and have a very large positive response bias in their outputs. That can lead to things like generating answers with citations that support the answer, even if those citations don’t exist in the real world. These models are also trained to be overconfident in their responses. If the way the model communicates is positive and overconfident, then it’s going to lead to lots of problems in a domain like health care.听听

And then, of course, there’s socio-technical problems, like, maybe these models should be developed with the specific goal of supporting scientific search. People are, in fact, working toward these things and have demonstrated good preliminary results.听

GF: So are the folks in your field pretty confident that that can be overcome in a fairly short time?听

LLW: I think the citation problem has already been overcome in research demonstration cases. If we, for example, hook up an LLM to PubMed search and allow it only to cite conclusions based on articles that are indexed in PubMed, then actually the models are very faithful to citations that are retrieved from that search engine. But if you use Gemini and ChatGPT, those are not always hooked up to those research databases.听听

GF: The problem is that a person trying to search using those tools doesn鈥檛 know that.听

LLW: Right, that’s a problem. People tend to trust these things because, as an example, we now have AI-generated answers at the top of Google search, and people have historically trusted Google search to only index documents that people have written, maybe putting the ones that are more trustworthy at the top. But that AI-generated response can be full of misinformation. What’s happening is that some people are losing trust in traditional search as a consequence. It鈥檚 going to be hard to build back that trust, even if we improve the technology.听

We’re really at the beginning of this technology. It took a long time for us to develop meaningful resources on the internet 鈥� things like Wikipedia or PubMed. Right now, these chatbots are general-purpose tools, but there are already starting to be mixtures of models underneath. And in the future, they鈥檙e going to get better at routing people’s queries to the correct expert models, whether that鈥檚 to the model hooked up to PubMed or to trusted documents published by various associates related to health care. And I think that鈥檚 likely where we’re headed in the next couple of years.听听

Trust and reliability issues aside, are there any potential downsides to deploying these tools widely? I can see a potential problem with people using chatbots to self-diagnose when it might be preferable to see a provider.听

LLW: You think of a resource like WebMD: Was that a net positive or net negative? Before its existence, patients really did have a hard time finding any information at all. And of course, there’s limited face time with clinicians where people actually get to ask those questions. So for every patient who wrongly self-diagnoses on WebMD, there are probably also hundreds of patients who found a quick answer to a question. I think that with these models, it’s going to be similar. They鈥檙e going to help address some of the gaps in clinical care where we don鈥檛 currently have enough resources.听听

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

Twelve years after Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, it鈥檚 safe to say that weed is here to stay. report using cannabis in the last month, and believe marijuana products are safe.听听

When it comes to the safety of long-term marijuana use among the general population, the jury鈥檚 still out. But there are some groups for whom cannabis poses a serious health risk. Among the most vulnerable are young adults with psychosis, who tend to use cannabis at extremely high rates, and whose symptoms can be exacerbated by long-term marijuana use. A team of 天美影视传媒 researchers is focused on this particular group.听

To effectively treat these patients鈥� symptoms and improve long-term outcomes, it鈥檚 critical for providers to help young adults as quickly as possible after their first psychotic episode. But that鈥檚 proven tricky. Current best practices aren鈥檛 always effective for young adults with psychosis, who tend to use cannabis for different reasons than their peers and who may feel different effects.听

That leaves mental health care providers with a difficult problem: How can they best discern why their patients use cannabis, and what鈥檚 the best way to help them stop?听听

UW researchers and from the School of Social Work, and , an associate professor in department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the UW School of Medicine, studied and then developed a novel treatment method. A pilot study of 12 people showed the method to be effective, though final results have yet to be published. UW News sat down with the research team to discuss their intervention and why it鈥檚 so important to help young people in this group cut down their use.听

Cannabis use is increasing across the board, but the numbers are staggeringly high among young adults with psychosis 鈥� you cite statistics estimating that 60-80% have used cannabis at some point in their lifetime. What makes a person experiencing psychosis so much more likely to use cannabis?听听

Denise Walker: Many people were probably using cannabis before the onset of their psychosis symptoms, because there is strong research evidence that cannabis increases the risk for developing psychosis-related disorders. For those who do develop a psychosis-related disorder like schizophrenia, continued cannabis use impedes the recovery process and makes outcomes worse. There is still a lot more to learn about the cause and effect of these relationships, but cannabis does seem to have a unique relationship with psychosis.听

Ryan Petros: In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that people with schizophrenia are more prone to feeling bored than people without schizophrenia. In general, a lot of people use cannabis because they like it, and they find the associated high to be fun. It may be that people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders are more likely to use cannabis to have fun and feel good because they are more likely to feel bored and less likely to feel pleasure in everyday activities. But the fact of the matter is, we don鈥檛 really know. Another reason that people use cannabis, in general, is because it facilitates social interactions or provides a shared activity in social settings. Because people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders have smaller social networks and fewer social engagements, it may be that they use cannabis to facilitate improved social interaction, but here again, we need more research to know with more certainty.听

At the heart of all this research is the different health risks of cannabis use for people with and without psychosis or other mental health challenges. What are those differences, and why is cannabis use among young adults with psychosis particularly concerning?听

RP: For people with a psychosis, cannabis use is associated with higher rates of dropping from treatment and decreased adherence to medication. It leads to increased symptoms of psychosis and higher rates of psychiatric rehospitalization. In the long –term, cannabis use increases the risk of poor psychosocial outcomes and diminished overall functioning.听

DW: Essentially, continued cannabis use makes it much harder for young adults with psychosis to take advantage of treatment, make strides in their recovery and, ultimately, get on with having the life they want.听

RP: Another major reason for concern is that not only is cannabis use on the rise, people also have progressively adopted more tolerant attitudes toward cannabis. Cannabis has recently overtaken alcohol as the drug most often used on a daily basis in the United States. While some people can use cannabis without a problem, it鈥檚 recommended that some others abstain from using at all.听 Over time, however, people have come to believe that cannabis use has health benefits, and they are less likely to perceive risks of use. This may result in a particularly challenging set of circumstances for helping someone with psychosis to learn about the real risks that cannabis use has for their health and wellness and to make the choice to reduce or abstain from use.听

DW: I agree. Perceptions surrounding cannabis are often polarized 鈥� it is often viewed as either 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渂ad,鈥� when in reality, it鈥檚 somewhere in the middle. There can be benefits for some to use cannabis and real risks of harm for others. These mixed messages, or at least the lack of acknowledgement of harms, contribute to continued hardship for those experiencing psychosis and their families.听

What methods are currently recommended to help people reduce their cannabis use, and why might those not be as effective for young adults with psychosis?听听

DW: The gold standard treatment includes a combination of motivational enhancement therapy (MET), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and contingency management. Contingency management is often not available in the community, and studies show that MET plus CBT perform almost as well. Because it is normal for motivation to wax and wane for someone contemplating changing their cannabis use, MET addresses the issue of motivation early on. CBT teaches skills to avoid drug use, cope with social situations and negative moods, and solve problems without the use of cannabis. Family therapy is another option with strong support.听听

The big problem is that we don鈥檛 know if these treatments are effective for young adults with psychosis.听 MET is the most studied intervention in cannabis treatment, alone and in combination; however, it has not been tested with young adults with psychosis.听 With a few optimizations, we believe that it could perform even better than with the general population, and we have begun to test it with young adults with psychosis.听

Your team has developed an intervention for young adults with psychosis that incorporates MET. Can you describe what that intervention looks like, and why it might be more effective for this population?听听

DW: MET is a person-centered, nonjudgmental approach that facilitates an honest and candid discussion about cannabis use. The techniques are intended to draw out the individuals鈥� personal reasons for making a change and to grow their motivation to do so. Individualized feedback is created based on a client鈥檚 responses to an assessment of their cannabis use and related experiences and summarizes information about their cannabis use patterns, how their cannabis use compares with others, and their risk factors for developing a cannabis use disorder. It also provides an opportunity for clients to think about their personal goals and how their cannabis use promotes or detracts from their ability to attain those goals.听听

When we asked young adults with psychosis what they wanted in a cannabis intervention, they were clear that they wanted an individualized and nonjudgmental approach. They also said they wanted accurate and science-based information about the relationship between cannabis and psychosis. MET ticks those boxes. With a few adaptations, it is an ideal format for providing objective information, while also inviting the young adult to talk it through and consider what the information means to them personally.听

Currently, providers are giving the message to patients that cannabis is harmful for those with psychosis, which is a great start.听 But most providers don鈥檛 feel confident discussing why cannabis is harmful and what the research has found.听 My sense is that patients often take that message and defend against it with their own personal experiences of what they like about cannabis. MET offers an invitation to receive and discuss objective evidence, consider their own experiences of how cannabis affects their symptoms and what they want for their future, and do so in a supportive environment that allows for looking at their use from a variety of perspectives.听听听

You ran a pilot program to understand how the new intervention works. What did you learn in that pilot study?听听

DW: We adapted the MET intervention to include personalized feedback on the interaction between cannabis and psychosis and included some graphics and ideas about ways to reduce those risks in addition to abstinence. Twelve young adults experiencing psychosis who used cannabis regularly enrolled in the study and were offered the intervention.听Most of the participants were not interested in changing their use of cannabis at the outset of the study, and by the end, several chose to reduce their cannabis use.听

Overall, the feedback was very positive. Participants overwhelmingly said they would recommend the intervention and would retain the psychosis specific pieces of the conversation. They appreciated the data that was included and the opportunity to discuss what it meant for them. They also said they enjoyed talking about how cannabis fits into their larger life and goals for the future. Overall, the feedback suggests this intervention has promise and should be studied in a larger trial.听

Maria Monroe-DeVita: My long-term goal would be to offer this new intervention either in addition to, or integrated within, the evidence-based package of services known to work best for individuals experiencing first episode psychosis.听

is a research professor in the UW School of Social Work, is an associate professor in the UW School of Social Work, and is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the UW School of Medicine.听听

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

UPDATE (Aug. 2, 2024): A previous version of this story misstated Paul Kinahan’s name.

Fifteen faculty members at the 天美影视传媒 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. They are among 36 scientists and educators from across the state . Selection recognizes the new members鈥� 鈥渙utstanding 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�

Twelve UW faculty members were selected by current WSAS members. They are:

• , associate professor of epidemiology, of health systems and population health, and of child, family and population health nursing, who 鈥減ossesses the rare combination of scientific rigor and courageous commitment to local community health. Identifying original ways to examine questions, and seeking out appropriate scientific methods to study those questions, allow her to translate research to collaborative community interventions with a direct impact on the health of communities.鈥�
• , the Shauna C. Larson endowed chair in learning sciences, for 鈥渉is work in the cultural basis of scientific research and learning, bringing rigor and light to multiculturalism in science and STEM education through STEM Teaching Tools and other programs.鈥�
• , professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 鈥渇or her sustained commitment to community-engaged, science-driven practice and policy change related to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of mental health, with a focus on providing effective, sustainable and culturally appropriate care to people with serious mental illness.鈥�
• , the David and Nancy Auth endowed professor in bioengineering, who has 鈥渃harted new paths for 30-plus years. Her quest to deeply understand protein folding/unfolding and the link to amyloid diseases has propelled her to pioneer unique computational and experimental methods leading to the discovery and characterization of a new protein structure linked to toxicity early in amyloidogenesis.鈥�
• , professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, of global health, and of emergency medicine, who is 鈥渁 global and national leader at the intersection of climate change and health whose work has advanced our understanding of climate change health effects and has informed the design of preparedness and disaster response planning in Washington state, nationally and globally.鈥�
• , professor of bioengineering and of radiology, who is 鈥渞ecognized for his contributions to the science and engineering of medical imaging systems and for leadership in national programs and professional and scientific societies advancing the capabilities of medical imaging.鈥�
• , the Donald W. and Ruth Mary Close professor of electrical and computer engineering and faculty member in the UW Clean Energy Institute, who is 鈥渞ecognized for his distinguished research contributions to the design and operation of economical, reliable and environmentally sustainable power systems, and the development of influential educational materials used to train the next generation of power engineers.鈥�
• , senior vice president and director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the Joel D. Meyers endowed chair of clinical research and of vaccine and infectious disease at Fred Hutch, and UW professor of medicine, who is 鈥渋s recognized for her seminal contributions to developing validated laboratory methods for interrogating cellular and humoral immune responses to HIV, TB and COVID-19 vaccines, which has led to the analysis of more than 100 vaccine and monoclonal antibody trials for nearly three decades, including evidence of T-cell immune responses as a correlate of vaccine protection.鈥�
• , professor of political science and the Walker family professor for the arts and sciences, who is a specialist 鈥渋n environmental politics, international political economy, and the politics of nonprofit organizations. He is widely recognized as a leader in the field of environmental politics, best known for his path-breaking research on the role firms and nongovernmental organizations can play in promoting more stringent regulatory standards.鈥�
• , the Ballmer endowed dean of social work, for investigations of 鈥渉ow inequality, in its many forms, affects health, illness and quality of life. He has developed unique conceptual frameworks to investigate how race, ethnicity and immigration are associated with health and social outcomes.鈥�
• , professor of chemistry, who is elected 鈥渇or distinguished scientific and community contributions to advancing the field of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, which have transformed how researchers worldwide analyze data.鈥�
• , professor of bioengineering and of ophthalmology, whose 鈥減ioneering work in biomedical optics, including the invention of optical microangiography and development of novel imaging technologies, has transformed clinical practice, significantly improving patient outcomes. Through his numerous publications, patents and clinical translations, his research has helped shape the field of biomedical optics.鈥�

Three new UW members of the academy were selected by virtue of their previous election to one of the National Academies. They are:

• , professor of atmospheric and climate science, who had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences 鈥渇or contributions to research and expertise in atmospheric radiation and cloud processes, remote sensing, cloud/aerosol/radiation/climate interactions, stratospheric circulation and stratosphere-troposphere exchanges and coupling, and climate change.鈥�
• , the Bartley Dobb professor for the study and prevention of violence in the Department of Epidemiology and a UW professor of pediatrics, who had been elected to the National Academy of Medicine 鈥渇or being a national public health leader whose innovative and multidisciplinary research to integrate data across the health care system and criminal legal system has deepened our understanding of the risk and consequences of firearm-related harm and informed policies and programs to reduce its burden, especially among underserved communities and populations.鈥�
• , division chief of general pediatrics at Seattle Children鈥檚 Hospital and a UW professor of pediatrics, who had been elected to the National Academy of Medicine 鈥渇or her leadership in advancing child health equity through scholarship in community-partnered design of innovative care models in pediatric primary care. Her work has transformed our understanding of how to deliver child preventive health care during the critical early childhood period to achieve equitable health outcomes and reduce disparities.鈥�

In addition, Dr. , president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and of the Cancer Consortium 鈥� a partnership between the UW, Seattle Children鈥檚 Hospital and Fred Hutch 鈥� was elected to the academy for being 鈥減art of a research effort that found mutations in the cell-surface protein epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which plays an important role in helping lung cancer cells survive. Today, drugs that target EGFR can dramatically change outcomes for lung cancer patients by slowing the progression of the cancer.鈥�

the Boeing-Egtvedt endowed professor and chair in aeronautics and astronautics, will join the board effective Sept. 30. Morgansen was elected to WSAS in 2021 鈥渇or 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� She is currently director of the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, co-director of the UW Space Policy and Research Center and chair of the AIAA Aerospace Department Chairs Association. She is also a member of the WSAS education committee.

鈥淚 am excited to serve on the WSAS board and work with WSAS members to leverage and grow WSAS鈥檚 impact by identifying new opportunities for WSAS to collaborate and partner with the state in addressing the state鈥檚 needs,鈥� said Morgansen.

The new members to the Washington State Academy of Sciences will be formally inducted in September.

Smart accessories are increasingly common. Rings and watches track vitals, while Ray-Bans now . Wearable tech has even broached . Yet certain accessories have yet to get the smart touch.

天美影视传媒 researchers introduced the Thermal Earring, a wireless wearable that continuously monitors a user鈥檚 earlobe temperature. In a study of six users, the earring outperformed a smartwatch at sensing skin temperature during periods of rest. It also showed promise for monitoring signs of stress, eating, exercise and ovulation.

The smart earring prototype is about the size and weight of a small paperclip and has a 28-day battery life. A magnetic clip attaches one temperature sensor to a wearer鈥檚 ear, while another sensor dangles about an inch below it for estimating room temperature. The earring can be personalized with fashion designs made of resin (in the shape of a flower, for example) or with a gemstone, without negatively affecting its accuracy.

Researchers Jan. 12 in Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. The device is not currently commercially available.

鈥淚 wear a smartwatch to track my personal health, but I鈥檝e found that a lot of people think smartwatches are unfashionable or bulky and uncomfortable,鈥� said co-lead author , a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. 鈥淚 also like to wear earrings, so we started thinking about what unique things we can get from the earlobe. We found that sensing the skin temperature on the lobe, instead of a hand or wrist, was much more accurate. It also gave us the option to have part of the sensor dangle to separate ambient room temperature from skin temperature.鈥�

Creating a wearable small enough to pass as an earring, yet robust enough that users would have to charge it only every few days, presented an engineering challenge.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a tricky balance,鈥� said co-lead author , who was a UW masters student in the electrical and computer engineering department when doing the research and is now at the University of California San Diego. 鈥淭ypically, if you want power to last longer, you should have a bigger battery. But then you sacrifice size. Making it wireless also demands more energy.鈥�

The team made the earring鈥檚 power consumption as efficient as possible, while also making space for a Bluetooth chip, a battery, two temperature sensors and an antenna. Instead of pairing it with a device, which uses more power, the earring uses Bluetooth advertising mode 鈥� the transmissions a device broadcasts to show it can be paired. After reading and sending the temperature, it goes into deep sleep to save power.

Because continuous earlobe temperature has not been studied widely, the team also explored potential applications to guide future research. In five patients with fevers, the average earlobe temperature rose 10.62 degrees Fahrenheit (5.92 degrees Celsius) compared with the temperatures of 20 healthy patients, suggesting the earring鈥檚 potential for continuous fever monitoring.

鈥淚n medicine we often monitor fevers to assess response to therapy 鈥� to see, for instance, if an antibiotic is working on an infection,鈥� said co-author , a clinical instructor at the Department of Emergency Medicine in the UW School of Medicine. 鈥淟onger term monitoring is a way to increase sensitivity of capturing fevers, since they can rise and fall throughout the day.鈥�

While core body temperature generally stays relatively constant outside of fever, earlobe temperature varies more, presenting several novel uses for the Thermal Earring. In small proof-of-concept tests, the earring detected temperature variations correlated with eating, exercising and experiencing stress. When tested on six users at rest, the earring鈥檚 reading varied by 0.58 F (0.32 C) on average, placing it within the range of 0.28 C to 0.56 C necessary for ovulation and period tracking; a smartwatch varied by 0.72 C.

鈥淐urrent wearables like Apple Watch and Fitbit have temperature sensors, but they provide only an average temperature for the day, and their temperature readings from wrists and hands are too noisy to track ovulation,鈥� Xue said. 鈥淪o we wanted to explore unique applications for the earring, especially applications that might be attractive to women and anyone who cares about fashion.鈥�

While researchers found several promising potential applications for the Thermal Earring, their findings were preliminary, since the focus was on the range of potential uses. They need more data to train their models for each use case and more thorough testing before the device might be used by the public. For future iterations of the device, Xue is working to integrate heart rate and activity monitoring. She鈥檚 also interested in potentially powering the device from solar or kinetic energy from the earring swaying.

鈥淓ventually, I want to develop a jewelry set for health monitoring,鈥� Xue said. 鈥淭he earrings would sense activity and health metrics such as temperature and heart rate, while a necklace might serve as an electrocardiogram monitor for more effective heart health data.鈥�

, a doctoral student in the Allen School, was a co-author on the paper. , a professor in the Allen School, and , a professor in the Allen School and the electrical and computer engineering department, were co-senior authors. This research was funded by the Washington Research Foundation and the .

For more information, contact Xue at qxue2@cs.washington.edu and Liu at yul276@ucsd.edu.

For questions specifically for Dr. Mastafa Springston, please contact Susan Gregg at sghanson@uw.edu.