Fall 2022
To know one’s place
Amanda Boyd at WSU Murrow College of Communication examines how Indigenous peoples seek and react to health information. » More ...
Health Policy
Fall 2020
COVID-19 research at WSU
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many Washington State University researchers refocused their efforts on the disease and its impacts.
Below are some of the research projects underway. It’s a dynamic list, so check back with WSU News for more projects.
COVID-19 crisis shows need for long-term changes
The upheaval created by the coronavirus 2019 outbreak, or COVID-19, is already transforming our society. Some of those changes may need to last a while to get through this and future outbreaks, according to Washington State University infectious disease epidemiologist Eric Lofgren.
Fall 2020
Planning for the storm
Washington State University researchers modeled health care needs when local officials wanted to prepare for COVID-19. » More ...
Spring 2019
Genomics fills a gap for adoptees
If you have gene variants such as BRCA or Lynch Syndrome, both of which may lead to difficult-to-treat cancers, “you’ve noticed it,” says Thomas May, an endowed professor of bioethics in Washington State University’s College of Medicine. “Noticed” is May’s measured way of saying that “multiple people in your family have died” of breast or colon cancer.
“Unless you don’t have access to family health history,” May adds.
One of the primary diagnostic tools available to doctors is family medical history. Breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions are often genetic. Knowing that a parent had a disease is important information … » More …
Fall 2017
Briefly noted
The Positive Leader: Five Leadership Strategies for Attaining Extraordinary Results
Howard Gauthier ’81
Sports Leadership Publishing Company: 2016
Through a series of parables, this book gives leadership strategies designed to build successful teams in the workplace, on the playing field, or in the boardroom. Gauthier is a former college basketball coach and athletic director, and is currently an associate professor of sports science at Idaho State University-Meridian.
Midwives and Mothers: Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation
Sheila Cosminsky ’64 MA
University of Texas Press: 2016
In this exploration of birth, illness, death, and survival on a Guatemalan sugar and coffee plantation, Cosminsky … » More …
Fall 2016
The Epidemic
“This program saved my life,” he says as he enters the room. Kris, 37, is in the Spokane Regional Health District methadone clinic where he has come for treatment of heroin addiction since 2008. The intense, dark-haired man speaks openly, earnestly, as if he has nothing left to lose.
Kris says his journey into addiction began, “Quite simply, by a doctor.” Struggling with pain from a minor car accident in 1999, he was prescribed increasingly stronger doses of hydrocodone and OxyContin over a nine-year period. The FBI eventually raided the unethical physician and closed his practice, leaving patients like Kris stranded and facing withdrawal when … » More …
Summer 2016
A team approach to health care
Matt Wild is battling ALS and knows what’s coming.
He has nothing but praise for the treatment professionals that the U.S. Veteran’s Administration and his personal physician have assembled for him. But it was an experience with health science students at WSU Spokane in February that left him feeling optimistic about the future of medical care.
“They brought together students from different aspects of the health sciences,” recalls Wild, who was diagnosed in early 2015 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative condition often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. “Each team was able to look at my case with this cross-over of training and … » More …
Summer 2016
Make your community walkable
Step It Up! is the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy’s campaign to promote walking and walkable communities. The following whiteboard animation video highlights that walking can be an easy form of physical activity that fosters social connections and shows how we can all get involved to make our communities more walkable.
The nonprofit Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, headquartered in Port Townsend, supports and teaches communities interested in walkability. They describe their vision “to create healthy, connected communities that support active living and that advance opportunities for all people through walkable streets, livable cities and better built environments.”
For example, they offer … » More …
Summer 2016
The Pharmacist will see you now.
Shelves full of informational brochures, health aids, and other over-the-counter remedies. Pharmacists filling and checking prescriptions, tending to paperwork, and meeting with customers.
Tucked into a portion of a busy Fred Meyer retail store, it looks like a typical community pharmacy.
Except there’s a difference. A big one that could help transform how and where many routine health care services are delivered.
Located in the Vancouver suburb of Mill Plain, it’s among the first wave of enhanced pharmacies where customers not only can fill prescriptions but receive direct medical care for a range of common ailments that would otherwise require a trip to a doctor’s … » More …