Medicine

February 23, 2024

A medical bag with fluid is labeled "lecanemab" with patient information

Alzheimer’s ‘milestone’

Doctors describe a new drug as a first step toward revolutionizing the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.


November 26, 2023

Hometown health care

Raised on a dairy farm, Wyatt Bowles dreamed of becoming a hometown doctor. Thanks to scholarship support at the UW, that dream can come true.


A woman wearing a surgical mask and stethoscope smiles at a laughing patient.

Delivering hope

A UW program works to improve maternal health outcomes for Black women and other underserved community members.


November 25, 2023

Probing a mystery

A UW center takes an innovative approach to solving one of medicine’s vexing problems: when organ transplants mysteriously lead to cancer.


September 2, 2023

Passion for public health

Throughout his career, George Counts has addressed health and health-care inequities.


September 1, 2023

Community classroom

UW Bothell public health students gained a new understanding of rural health care in the developing world.


May 28, 2023

A gleaming partnership

The UW School of Dentistry partnered with Shoreline Community College to increase the number of dental hygienists.


February 25, 2023

Comeback trail

One athlete journeys from injury to recovery with the help of sports medicine experts at the UW.


Opioid game-changer

Vaccines show promise for treating addiction to oxycodone, heroin and other addictive substances.


Reaching rural communities

The School of Dentistry gets amazing results from a program bringing health care to rural areas.


November 27, 2022

Tumor trap

Two interventional cardiologists at the UW Heart Institute were the first to use a basket-shaped, catheter-delivered tool to remove a benign tumor from a heart.


A medical emergency

The UW struggles to enroll Black medical students—a trend that is playing out across the nation.


October 28, 2022

Service on his terms

Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award recipient Michael Kilmer is now a leader in Veterans Affairs 20 years after being forced out of the Coast Guard.


September 20, 2022

Making history

History professor Margaret O'Mara explains how prior generations handled a pandemic and what we can learn from their mistakes.


August 29, 2022

Doctors in the house

A class of 60 UW School of Medicine students now occupy a state-of-the-art building in Spokane.


December 4, 2021

Why get a booster?

Marion Pepper of the School of Medicine helps us better understand the latest COVID-19 shot.


September 4, 2021

Hope and healing

A researcher combats cancer with the help of UW doctors and tools developed by his colleagues.


Crisis state

Washington has a shortage of mental-health workers and high demand for treatment. The UW is at the center of efforts to turn the tide.


Healthy collaboration

The UW’s six health sciences schools share a mission to improve care and soon will share a new building.


June 10, 2021

Pandemic parallels

Long lines for vaccines are nothing new to Darrell Salk, whose father created the polio vaccine.


June 1, 2021

Speeding up the science

Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson lost their daughter to an uncommon form of cancer. Their philanthropy aims to expand research and bring hope to patients and their families.


May 10, 2021

Vaccine equity

Nationwide, we’re falling short on distributing vaccines to the communities that need it most.


March 11, 2021

Aiming at COVID-19

A year after it became one of the first academic labs in the U.S. to develop a COVID-19 test, the UW Medicine Virology Lab continues to innovate in response to the pandemic.


December 16, 2020

Nobel laureate’s UW ties

Harvey J. Alter, a UW resident in internal medicine from 1964-65, has received a Nobel Prize for his contributions to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.


UW vs. COVID-19

Recent news in the battle against COVID-19 from the UW community.


September 21, 2020

Racing a pandemic

Thanks to years of foresight, funding and preparation, two UW labs have been on the forefront of COVID-19 testing.


September 16, 2020

Double trouble

With flu season coming, doctors and public health officials worry that an outbreak of influenza in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic could wipe out our health care system.


September 11, 2020

For our health

The UW is putting its combined brainpower into population health, improving lives around the world.


May 15, 2020

Hands off the soap, briefly

Hot water and soap is keeping us healthy, but it can wear down our skin. We ask a UW Medicine dermatologist for help.


August 6, 2018

Diabetes nation

We talk about the state of diabetes with Ira Hirsch, the UW’s Diabetes Treatment and Teaching Chair.


June 4, 2018

Drug price isn't right

There’s a new blockbuster drug that could save the lives of thousands of people with type 2 diabetes in the U.S.


April 5, 2018

Genetic fortune telling

Thanks to services such as 23andMe, genetics has gone mainstream. But should you believe the hype?


March 5, 2018

Stop the bleed

It only takes a few minutes to bleed to death, but bystanders with a little knowledge can save lives.


January 9, 2018

Rural rescue

Connecting UW Medicine research to primary care clinics around the region.


December 15, 2017

The puzzle of aging

Building on decades of research and outreach, UW experts are piecing together new ways to live longer and better.


June 15, 2017

'If we don't, who will?'

A family eager to help their son has helped make the UW a leader in facing down an insidious disease.


March 1, 2017

population health

Finding a solution

Tackling the most vexing medical problems facing humankind.


population health

Cancer calamity

Disparities in health care access hit communities of color hard—particularly when it comes to cancer.


population health, global health, health care, uw medicine

Diet and disease

How UW researchers are mapping and combating health disparities.


population health, global health, health care

Tending to the world

Scientists, doctors and data collectors join forces for population health.


February 28, 2017

Failure to grow

About 162 million children worldwide under the age of five are considered too short for their age—a growth failure called stunting.


We heart UW

If you need a heart transplant, here’s your prescription: come to UW Medical Center.


March 1, 2016

Test driven

Here, we present the tales of two clinical trials of technology that one day could alleviate suffering and improve lives for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from severe heart problems and kidney failure.


June 1, 2015

Blood stancher

An injectable polymer could keep soldiers and trauma patients from bleeding to death.


Mindfulness

Whether it’s coping with college or taming an addiction, mindfulness has real medical and practical benefits, and it’s something UW researchers have been exploring for decades.


Hazy on the law

More than two years after Washington legalized marijuana, parents and teens may be hazy on the specifics of the law.


March 1, 2015

Brain discovery

A couple of years ago a scientist looking at dozens of MRI scans of human brains noticed something surprising: a large fiber pathway that seemed to be part of the network of connections that process visual information.


Brain spotting

Football concussions get a lot of attention, but UW researchers want to know how a single brain injury can affect an ordinary person decades down the line.


December 1, 2014

Can't weight

Obesity-associated insulin resistance is a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. UW researchers are now looking at obesity and its interdependent relationship to the disease.


Clues from bird brains

Brain cells that multiply to help birds sing their best during breeding season are known to die back naturally later in the year. For the first time, researchers have described the series of events that cue new neuron growth each spring.


June 1, 2014

Cosmetic enhancement

Millions of people each year remove wrinkles, soften creases and plump up their lips by having a physician inject a gel-like material into their facial tissue. These cosmetic procedures are sometimes called “liquid facelifts” and are said to be minimally invasive. It’s rare, but sometimes things go wrong.


March 1, 2014

Brain sugar

A growing body of evidence suggests that the brain plays a key role in glucose regulation and the development of type 2 diabetes.


Genetic echo

Researchers led by Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease.


December 1, 2013

Autism onset

Between ages 3 and 10, children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit distinct brain chemical changes that differ from children with developmental delays and those with typical development, according to a new study led by UW researchers.


September 1, 2013

Keeping kids clean and sober

An answer to teen drug use isn’t quite as simple as “just say no.” Many teenagers know they are supposed to say no to tobacco, alcohol and other drugs but they don’t know why.


June 1, 2013

Probing DNA

The University of Washington Adult Medical Genetics Clinic is not only well-established—both UW and Johns Hopkins started the first genetics programs in 1957—but is widely considered the best in the world.


March 1, 2013

Trisomy trials

Certain medical problems experienced by people with Down Syndrome may eventually be helped because of a research breakthrough at the UW.


Solving IBS

The cause and treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome are complex problems that researchers at the UW School of Nursing are systematically addressing.


Future of medicine

The answer to developing a quick fix for a virus? (Or the answers to a whole host of other medical issues?) It might be found in proteins.


Quick implant

Sixty minutes was all it took for Jordan Prutkin, a UW cardiologist, to implant a new, improved kind of defibrillator in Merle Yoney’s chest.


December 1, 2012

Longer CPR, longer life?

Hospitals that continue CPR longer have better survival rates for patients whose hearts have stopped beating, according to a study led by Zachary Goldberger, Acting Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Harborview Medical Center.


Blind mice see the light

Researchers who injected a new chemical into the eyes of blind mice made the mice sensitive to light, a finding that could hold promise for people with disease that cause blindness.


Fibbing on fat

When it comes to reporting whether we’ve lost or gained weight over the previous year, we may not be lying exactly but many of us are guilty of wishful thinking.


Better imaging

Lodespin Labs, a new company founded by UW researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering with support from UW’s Center for Commercialization, may help solve a worrying problem in health care.


September 1, 2012

Hope for broken hearts

Cardiology researchers at the UW are engaged in exciting work to explore whether a patient’s own stem cells can foster the regeneration of damaged heart muscle.


June 1, 2012

A bridge to life

A backpack power supply runs the artificial heart Chris Marshall received from UW Medical Center.


March 1, 2012

New wisdom on teeth

Dr. Greg Huang, Chairman of the UW Department of Orthodontics, says, that for those whose wisdom teeth are developing normally, a watchful waiting approach may be reasonable.


June 1, 2011

Risk factor

Sudden cardiac death affects about 1 in 43,000 NCAA athletes, according to a new UW study.


March 1, 2011

Surgery offers hope

University of Washington surgeons in October performed the world’s first surgical procedure to implant a device that could give hope to millions of people suffering from Ménière’s disease — an insidious, mysterious disorder.


December 1, 2010

Medicine for the masses

Using business, medical and engineering smarts, UW alumni are solving medical problems in Washington and beyond.


September 1, 2010

Damaging waves

A team of UW and Veterans Affairs researchers has gathered the first direct evidence that blast waves from roadside bombs can cause long-term changes in soldiers’ brains.


June 1, 2010

Birth of a field

Mary Hebert is head of the UW Obstetric-Fetal Pharmacology Research Unit, which recently received a $5 million grant to continue its work on the clinical pharmacology of medications during pregnancy.


March 1, 2010

Seeing red

Jay and Maureen Neitz, who joined the UW School of Medicine faculty in 2008, reported in the journal Nature that they had cured color-blindness in two squirrel monkeys using gene therapy.


Breast cancer detection

An inexpensive, noninvasive test can accurately detect breast cancer in younger women, and has the potential to spare thousands from unnecessary surgeries and biopsies, according to new UW research.


MRSA digs in

Dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria are gaining a foothold in the natural environment, suggests recent research from the UW School of Public Health.


December 1, 2009

Turning to tech

Two University of Washington alums—Steve Singer, ’81, and Ryan Oftebro, ’95, ’03—are carrying on the School of Pharmacy’s tradition of pioneering innovations.


New prescription

The practice of pharmacy is changing these days, thanks in large part to the innovations developed by the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, a national leader in health-care research and in meeting the needs of the community.


September 1, 2009

Responding to H1N1

When a new influenza virus, Influenza A H1N1, or “swine flu,” emerged last spring, Anne Marie Kimball, a professor of epidemiology and health services at UW School of Public Health, was on the front lines of the information response.


March 1, 2009

The healing arts

Last fall, the UW School of Medicine and the Henry Art Gallery teamed up to offer a new course to help medical students develop their diagnostic skills by visiting art museums.


Knowing the enemy

A little more than 10 years ago, Kristin Swanson, a graduate student in applied mathematics at the UW, began work on an audacious project: an equation to model the growth and spread of brain tumors in individual patients.


Missing shots

Childhood vaccination rates are increasing, but not as quickly as many governments around the world have claimed. That's the conclusion of a new study by researchers at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).


June 1, 2007

Bad blood

As many as 3 million Americans are carrying the hepatitis C virus — but most don’t even know it. The UW is trying to crack its code before more potential carriers get the bad news.


March 1, 2007

The metal debate

A pioneering UW study confirms that metal dental fillings are safe, but critics still aren't satisfied.


December 1, 2006

New generation

UW scientists have made important first steps toward the day when they will be able to grow livers, hearts and other replacement tissue from stem cells.


September 1, 2006

50 years for the heart

Fifty years ago, the UW perfected its own heart-lung machine and did the first open-heart bypass surgery in the West. Now advances are coming so quickly that they could put future cardiac surgeons out of business.


June 1, 2006

Infant screening

A relatively simple screening process detects enzyme deficiencies in newborns, allowing treatment to begin before too much damage has been done.


March 1, 2006

Unbroken spirits

When an accident broke Kirk Hennig's neck, he was sent to one of the best rehabilitation centers in the nation, led by one of its top doctors. Now he's sharing his insights with other injured patients.


June 1, 2005

Antibiotics won't do it

Could bacteria also be a culprit in heart disease? In April the UW released the first results of a study — and the verdict so far for C. pneumoniae is not guilty.


March 1, 2005

Painful data

It’s bad enough to suffer from migraines, but now there is a correlation with another brain malady. Migraine sufferers are twice as likely to experience a stroke, compared to people who do not get this type of headache, say UW researchers.


March 1, 2004

Income-weight link

Healthy foods that aid in weight loss and provide a feeling of fullness cost more than energy-dense foods such as French fries, soft drinks, candy and cookies. The result: poor people are more likely to be overweight.


December 1, 2002

Breakthrough research

UW researchers announced a dramatic breakthrough—they were able to insert the missing gene into these defective mice and reverse the effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.


September 1, 2002

Diabetes discovery

Discovery of a gene that plays a major role in type 1 diabetes in rats and is present in nearly identical form in humans might shed light on the little understood processes of the thymus, a research team including University of Washington scientists announced.


June 1, 2002

Fatal inheritance

After losing her mother and brother to pancreatic cancer, Sheri Mayer faced the difficult choice of having her pancreas removed or trying to beat the odds.


December 1, 2001

Nobel Laureate

UW Genetics Professor Lee Hartwell won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology for his basic research on cell division.


Sound solution

UW scientists, with the aid of some bird brains, may have found an answer to hearing loss: bringing dead cells back to life.


Appendix misfires

In nearly one of four appendectomies performed in women of childbearing age, the removed appendix is actually not infected, according to a UW study.


September 1, 2001

Turning off TB

UW Pathobiology Professor David Sherman announced that he was able to interrupt the function of a TB gene that allows the bacterium to go dormant.


June 1, 2001

Fighting depression

A UW study found that several brief office visits along with continuing telephone calls or even e-mail can help prevent a relapse of depression.


December 1, 2000

Why cells go bad

Once just a theory, Lawrence Loeb's mutation breakthrough could lead to new cancer treatments and even an unconventional way to stop AIDS.


September 1, 2000

Heart attack study

Older women are less likely to receive early treatment following a heart attack than older men and are more likely to be assigned a do-not-resuscitate order during their hospital stay, UW researchers reported.