AAUW Seattle’s gift allowed doctoral student Ally Clonch to continue vital research on women’s health in the maritime industry during a period of federal funding uncertainty.
Thank you for advancing public health for all.
To our friends, alumni, and partners in public health,
As we welcome a new year, let us celebrate the progress and hope you’ve helped create. Your philanthropy is more than generosity; it is partnership in action. Every gift strengthens our shared mission of healthier, safer, and more prosperous communities at home and around the world.
This past year, your support was critical to our School navigating federal funding cuts and instability that threated public health research and education. You guaranteed students could continue their education and graduate. You ensured progress towards solving important public health problems continued unabated. You supported essential work that demonstrates that Research Makes America Healthier.
Your support makes a measurable difference in people’s lives, including the students, staff, and faculty of our UW community. Each gift — large or small — helps us build a healthier future together. I am deeply grateful for you and the trust you place in us and public health.
As we step into 2026, thank you for walking beside us. Please enjoy the stories of impact on this website that your philanthropy made possible.
With gratitude and warm New Year wishes,
Hilary Godwin, PhD
Dean, University of Washington School of Public Health
Your Philanthropy in Action
Fueling Discovery
The Harris-Wasserheit Endowed Professorship supports faculty who advance health equity through community-engaged research, education, and global collaboration.
Strengthening Communities
The MHA program develops leaders who improve patient care and strengthen health systems in communities across Washington and beyond.
Student Impact
Ellen Adeline Dingwall
Master of Public Health, 2027
The Department of Global Health at UW is one of the best in the world, full of knowledge, passion, and unwavering dedication to research and outreach. I also really enjoy the tight-knit feeling of the School of Public Health as well. My cohort is about thirty students, with about half of the cohort coming from around the world to attend UW, allowing for a tight-knit cohort, but still full of knowledge from around the world. All of this, combined with being in the heart of Seattle, a city with strong support for public and global health, are the main things that drew me to UW, and I don't plan to leave anytime soon.
The Thomas Francis Jr., Global Health Fund Endowed Student Fellowship allows me to further my education and passion for global health UW. I come from humble beginnings, with both of my parents being public servants in our small Wisconsin town. COVID-19 hit when I was a sophomore in high school, and both of my parents were laid off. My mother was also diagnosed with cancer the following year, meaning that I had to support my family by working 50 hours a week, on top of being a full-time student. I graduated high school, and managed to secure a tuition scholarship for my undergraduate degree, however, I still had to cover my other costs of attendance, including rent, groceries, etc. To accomplish this, I ended up working 3 jobs, on top of being a full-time university student. I was concerned about having to pull through multiple jobs again while trying to dedicate time for my graduate studies, but because of this scholarship, I no longer need to overload myself with work to afford to live. With this scholarship, I can have peace of mind financially and know that I can afford my costs of living without stress and dedicate more of my time and energy to my studies. For that, I say thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for your generosity, and continued support of public health, both locally and abroad.
Mapenzi Kinege
Master of Public Health, 2026
Receiving the Warren George Povey Endowed Fund for Global Health Students allowed me to travel, conduct workshops, and connect theory to practice. It made it possible for me to see what “global health” truly means, listening to communities, learning from them, and working together toward equity. The experience confirmed that my life’s work will focus on empowering communities in Africa through research and interventions that address the social and environmental determinants of health.
I chose the University of Washington School of Public Health because of its strong focus on community-based learning and global partnerships. UW has given me both the academic foundation and the mentorship to turn lived experience into actionable change. The Povey Fund made it possible for me to live out that mission this summer, to give back, to learn, and to grow both professionally and personally.
Thank you for believing in students like me. Your generosity not only supported a project; it supported a dream. I also would like to express sincere gratitude to all the people who believed in me and supported me to make this project a reality.
Katie Poulson
PhD Biostatistics, 2026
I am a PhD student in the Biostatistics department at UW. I received funding from the Regeneron Graduate Student Research fund between 2022 and 2024. During that time, I studied statistical methods for recurrent events analyses in a project advised by Dr. Thomas Fleming. Relevant clinical trials include any studies with time-to-event data where the event of interest can occur multiple times in the same individual, such as the case for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations or repeated infections.
While there are existing methods for studying treatment effects using recurrent event data, the scenarios in which one method should be preferred over another are not well characterized in the literature. Along with my co-authors, I wrote a paper describing my simulation study to compare the statistical properties of existing methods. This paper is currently moving through the peer review process. I was also funded to present on this work at the American Statistical Association Biopharmaceutical Section Regulatory-Industry Statistics Workshop conference in September 2023.
I greatly appreciate the experience I received while working on this project, and the mentorship from Dr. Fleming, collaborators at Regeneron, and other co-authors. It has helped me to feel more well-rounded as a statistician and increased my knowledge of survival analysis and clinical trials. Through this work, I have also benefited from the opportunity to mentor MS students in our department for additional research related to recurrent events.
Ellen Adeline Dingwall, MPH '27
The Thomas Francis Jr., Global Health Fund Endowed Student Fellowship
Mapenzi Kinege, MPH '26
The Warren George Povey Endowed Fund for Global Health Students
2025 Impact in Numbers
Thank You for Your Support
Hilary Godwin
Dean, UW School of Public Health
Brad Joutras
Interim Associate Dean for Advancement, UW School of Public Health
Hugh Chang, MS Bioengineering '05
Chair, UW School of Public Health Advancement Board
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