UW Medicine

Dermatologist Paul Nghiem, head of the University of Washington - School of Medicine Dermatology Department, was recently on KUOW Public Radio to discuss the importance of sunscreen, and practical solutions to "sunscreen stickiness" while you're enjoying time outside with your family this summer. "Your skin never fully forgets what you have done to it," he says. "It's all about habits."

UW Medicine’s Alvord Brain Tumor Center and Neurosciences Institute was on site at the 11th Annual Head For The Cure 5K, supporting Brain Cancer survivors and caregivers. This event raises funds, awareness, and hope for the Seattle brain tumor community.

UW Medical Center - Northwest is a recipient of the first Center of Excellence for Perinatal Substance Use certification from the Washington State Department of Health, Washington State Hospital Association, and the Washington State Health Care Authority. This certificate, which supports the state’s Opioid and Overdose Response Plan, recognizes hospitals that have made significant progress in supporting birthing parents and infants affected by substance use disorder by adapting perinatal care best practices. “Ensuring parents and people who are pregnant receive substance use recovery and supportive services is a top priority for our agency and our communities,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, Chief of Prevention, Safety and Health, Department of Health. “Our hope in creating the Centers of Excellence for Perinatal Substance Use certification is to set a baseline of care and available resources for parents and infants affected by this epidemic. This joint effort is guided by proven science and human compassion.”

Yesterday was the second annual Brain Health Block Party! This special event promoting brain health featured outdoor “brain-healthy” activity stations spread throughout Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood. As participants walked from site to site, they solved puzzles, made their own trail mix, played games, created art, and much more! Initiated by the Memory Hub, a community center operated by UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center, the fun neighborhood event celebrates easy steps we can take to promote brain health – like staying active, reducing stress, challenging our minds, connecting with others, and eating a healthy diet. It’s also a unique way to build awareness about memory loss and dementia. Nine organizations partnered to produce this year’s event, offering activities at the following locations: The Memory Hub, Frye Art Museum, Murano Senior Living, Skyline Retirement Community, St. James Cathedral, Horizon House (CCRC), Swedish First Hill, Town Hall Seattle, and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Each of the participating organizations has a commitment to supporting older adults and the community at large. We can all play a role in helping build a dementia-friendly community: by building awareness, challenging stigma, and taking steps to make sure people with dementia are actively included in community life.

A common assumption is that for most people, both physical and cognitive function peak in their 20s before declining throughout the adult lifespan. As an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley, Dr. K. Warner Schaie began to challenge this assumption. After having retirees take a cognitive test that was designed for children, he discovered that adults performed better than high school students. Schaie’s curiosity gave rise to the Seattle Longitudinal Study (SLS), one of the most extensive psychological research studies of cognitive health and aging ever conducted. From 1956 to 2012, Schaie tested and added a new cohort of participants every seven years. For more than 30 years, Schaie and his wife, Sherry Willis, PhD, a research professor at the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, researched cognitive development and aging at Penn State University, returning to Seattle to conduct SLS testing. “Drs. Schaie and Willis demonstrated that cognitive functioning isn’t as simple as an early peak and a guaranteed decline as we age,” says Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington. “They helped to combat ageist attitudes, showing us that there are many people who stay sharp in their old age.” Schaie passed away in February 2023 at the age of 95, he left a substantial body of work and a philanthropic commitment to create an endowed chair in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Today, the study’s impact lives on through the work of researchers like Jeffrey Iliff, PhD, who studies the relationship between sleep and cognitive impairment or dementia. “As a society, we are just beginning to understand risk factors for dementia,” says Dr. Unützer. “A lot of research is focused on people who have dementia, but we need to learn about what makes the brain resilient to risk factors by studying people who have them and yet haven’t developed dementia. That is one opportunity SLS data creates.”

Research Scientist Xinyao de Grauw, MD, PhD, MPH will be representing Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center (HIPRC) at the 2024 Safe States Injury & Violence Prevention conference. This premiere conference, happening in Portland from August 20-August 22, is an opportunity is for injury and violence prevention professionals working across a variety of settings to connect and learn from one another. For three days, hundreds of professionals and advocates from state, local, and tribal health, hospitals and healthcare, research and academia, community-based organizations, and the federal government come together to share best practices and innovative solutions, discuss emerging issues and new research, and hone their competencies in injury and violence protection. Register today!

Last week, Airlift Northwest joined American Medical Response and Life Flight Network on the Harborview Medical Center helipad to honor 36 U.S. fallen first responders. The multi-state procession of this year’s temporary National EMS Memorial, known as the Tree of Life, began here in Seattle for the first time, and its last stop is Arlington, VA. The ceremonial drive will take place over the course of several days leading into the Weekend of Honor. We honor those who have died in the line-of-duty and recognize the sacrifices being made by our nations’ EMS providers.

Today, Airlift Northwest joined American Medical Response and Life Flight Network on the Harborview Medical Center helipad to honor 36 U.S. fallen first responders. The multi-state procession of this year’s temporary National EMS Memorial, known as the Tree of Life, began here in Seattle for the first time, and its last stop is Arlington, VA. The ceremonial drive will take place over the course of several days leading into the Weekend of Honor. We honor those who have died in the line-of-duty and recognize the sacrifices being made by our nations’ EMS providers.

If streetlights and headlights around you are surrounded by halos or starbursts, it could be a sign of a common condition called astigmatism. More than 30% of people in the U.S. will develop the condition at some point in their lives. “Astigmatism occurs when the surface of your cornea is shaped kind of like a football — one slope is steeper than the other, as opposed to a basketball where everything slopes the same. The steeper slope focuses the light at a different place than the flatter slope, so the person is not quite able to see clearly. It’s blurry," explains Dr. Brian Chou, a neuro-ophthalmologist and an assistant professor in the University of Washington - School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology. If you're experiencing blurred vision, schedule an eye exam. Your optometrist or ophthalmologist will perform a refraction test and check for astigmatism. There are several possible treatments ranging from glasses to laser surgery.

Happy 4th of July! You can thank the healthcare workers working today by leaving the fireworks to the professionals and NOT ending up in the emergency room (but we’ll be here if you need us.) 🎆 🇺🇸