Investigators in the UW Department of Health Systems and Population Health (HSPop) conduct cutting-edge research across a variety of disciplines. Research topics include health equity, gender and sexuality, urban and rural health disparities, community-based participatory research, social determinants of health, health promotion, tobacco control, health informatics, workforce health, health care systems, chronic diseases, epidemics and pandemics (such as COVID-19), and cancer prevention and control.
Our Research
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Faculty member Stephen Bezruchka publishes book about how inequality in the U.S. leads to poor health
Associate teaching professor emeritus examines the contradiction of U.S. spending on health care vs life expectancy in his new book, “Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19’s Health Lessons for the World.”
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Sweetened beverage taxes produce net economic benefits for lower-income communities
New research from faculty within HSPop examines the economic equity impacts of sweetened beverage taxes in three cities — Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
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Evaluating a free meal program for U.S. schools
Jessica Jones-Smith and her team are hoping to better understand the effects of a free meals policy on child obesity, as well as estimate the policy’s effect on population-level obesity disparities by race, ethnicity, and income.
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Faculty member Amy Hagopian amplifies police violence as threat to public health
This project is a natural extension of Hagopian’s broader work, which focuses on social justice problems that undermine public health, such as war, homelessness, income inequality, racism, and incarceration. Hagopian is also an HSPop alum.
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Study finds vaccine distrust within incarcerated populations
In a study led by Marc Stern, a HSPop ffiliate assistant professor, fewer than half of inmates in jails and prisons surveyed said they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine.
More Projects and Findings
Students and research centers within our department also conduct their own research projects.