Dr. Pamela Collins: A Champion of Global Mental Health Advocacy
Psychiatrist Pamela Collins has long been interested in the intersection of mental health and global public health. While a medical student at Cornell University, she had the opportunity to conduct summer research in Haiti during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, a formative experience that brought into focus the impact of the sociocultural environment [...]
UWMC’s 21 Day Restore U Challenge
UW Medicine employees are invited to participate in the 21 Day Restore U Challenge, an annual well-being event first introduced by nurses at UW Medical Center-Montlake. Intended to create space for fostering meaningful connections with others while developing evidence-based well-being habits, the challenge addresses employee burnout and pandemic-inspired compassion fatigue. “We have ample situations in [...]
For Nurse Bryan Hill, Movement is Medicine
The Whole U is thrilled to re-introduce our Spotlight column, now titled People of UW, to highlight the incredible people at the University of Washington. Across our campuses and medical centers, the energy at UW is truly boundless. Join us in celebrating the people who make our University one of the best institutions in the [...]
Celebrate Black History Month by Supporting Black-owned Businesses
February marks the annual Black History Month recognition in the U.S., celebrating the achievements, influences and legacies of Black Americans. Supporting Black-owned businesses – this month and all year long – is an easy and effective way to show solidarity with Black entrepreneurs whose products and services deserve patronage. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, [...]
Integrate Social Impact into your Life
The immense uncertainty and global tension of the past two years, resulting largely from the global Covid-19 pandemic, has more fully exposed the glaring issues of inequality and wealth disparity in America and around the world. Meanwhile, ambiguity about the economy and political landscape has intensified an already profound divide on issues that negatively and [...]
Giving for Good: UWCFD 2021 Campaign
Each year, the UW Combined Fund Drive selects a nonprofit organization to highlight during the fall fundraising campaign. Last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic gathered momentum and people’s lives were disrupted in so many ways, we chose to focus on food insecurity and ultimately raised $165,000 for Northwest Harvest. This year, we are again focusing on a [...]
Getting Involved in Ecological Restoration
Celebrated forest ecologist and UW Professor Emeritus Jerry Franklin once thought he’d been grabbed by Sasquatch while conducting research in Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington. It turned out to be a mature Douglas fir shedding 1,000 pounds of its bark. Professor Franklin, a longtime steward of old growth forests and advocate for ecological [...]
Choose to Challenge on International Women’s Day
Although every day is good day to elevate women’s and girls’ achievements and call out gender bias, International Women’s Day – March 8 – provides a community platform from which a call to action might be more clearly heard. It is an opportunity for content creators, social activists and anyone working toward a gender equal [...]
Practicing Social Advocacy
2020 was a year that brought out the inner social justice advocate in many of us for whom it may have previously been dormant. At the heels of the Me Too movement came Black Lives Matter, prompting a reckoning with systemic racism. In a major election year, voting rights were a top priority in the [...]
Benefits of Giving Back
The world has become a very different place in the age of COVID-19. With stay-at-home orders in place for months on end, many traditional volunteer opportunities – sorting donations, reading to kids, building houses, serving in a soup kitchen – have been significantly limited. Despite the impact of coronavirus restrictions, the pandemic has prompted millions [...]