University of Washington School of Public Health

We’ve throughly enjoyed celebrating our 2026 graduates ✨ here’s some of the joyful moments we captured!

The School of Public Health Class of 2026 celebrated their achievements at the Graduation Celebration June 5 at the Alaska Airlines Arena.

Three outstanding SPH students addressed their fellow classmates and peers: PH-GH undergraduate Daphne Suen, biostatistics master's graduate Yifan Lin, and public health genetics doctoral graduate Betty Cohn.

Additionally, Health services doctoral alum and director of Seven Directions, Myra Parker addressed the Class of 2026 as the recipient of the Alumni of Impact Award. Congratulations to our 898 graduates! View the full graduation stream and speaker videos in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI0rZrPkJKZM and photos: https://uwsph.smugmug.com/Graduation-Celebration-2026

2026 Graduation Celebration Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

Kicking off the World Cup ⚽️ Here’s our starter pack - Seattle edition

As genetic testing became more convenient and accessible, millions of Americans have spit into tubes and shipped them off, eager to discover their ancestral heritage or learn if they're at risk for certain diseases. So it may come as a surprise that an estimated 10% of those have discovered mistaken parentage.

How genetic testing companies are (or aren’t) preparing their customers for this discovery, and the impact this has on those people, is a topic that fascinates doctoral student Betty Cohn.

Cohn studied in the School of Public Health’s Institute for Public Health Genetics. For her outstanding work in researching the ethical issues surrounding emerging biotechnologies, Cohn was awarded the Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence. Read our full profile with Cohn and the paths that took her to the UW. https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/sph-blog/millions-people-accidentally-uncover-their-true-biological-parents-genetic

Millions of people accidentally uncover their true biological parents with genetic testing. Then what? | UW School of Public Health Doctoral student Betty Cohn studies ethical issues surrounding emerging biotechnology.

So many factors contribute to our understanding of Alzheimer's and its disease progression - such as sleep, inflammation, genetics, and the microbiome. Master's student Yifan Lin developed a new tool that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help determine which of those factors matter and which can be tuned out.

For her novel approach to improving the interpretation of complex genomic data, she was awarded the Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence, one of the most prestigious School-wide recognitions for master’s and doctoral students at the School of Public Health.

"A potential possibility of machine learning or this new technology and engineering method is that you could really scale up your work. That helps you to model or understand things on a different level, on a much higher level, or a global level even."

Read our full profile with Lin: https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/sph-blog/how-biostatisticians-use-ai-uncover-hidden-factors-causing-diseases Department of Biostatistics

How biostatisticians use AI to uncover hidden factors causing diseases | UW School of Public Health Master’s student Yifan Lin developed a tool to help understand Alzheimer's and other diseases.

As an internist focused on occupational and environmental health, Dr. Howard Frumkin has helped workers and communities lead healthier lives. As an epidemiologist — a former dean of the UW School of Public Health and professor emeritus in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences — he also investigates larger systems that influence our health, including climate change, the built environment, nature contact and sustainability.

At the 2026 Omenn Lecture in Environmental Health, Dr. Frumkin gave an insightful presentation about the health benefits of nature, changing paradigms in environmental health, and how we can rethink scientific questions in light of traditional ecological knowledge. Read the Q&A and watch the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-bX3AABk_I

How contact with nature could make us healthier Dr. Howard Frumkin gives Omenn Lecture in Environmental Health on May 26