Second opinions are believed to give both patients and physicians better insight into medical diagnoses and help them make better decisions about care and treatment.

In a new study, a tool to help discover undiagnosed dementia performed well in 2 separate health systems. “Around 50% of people living with dementia are undiagnosed,” said lead author Yates Coley, PhD, assistant biostatistics investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) and an affiliate assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington.

When the World Health Organization (WHO) published an estimate of excess deaths worldwide during the COVID pandemic, Jon Wakefield expected some media interest. He did not anticipate a deluge of news stories and interview requests about the findings.

"Too often, lack of clarity in how genetics research is communicated can lead to a misunderstanding of its relationship to race. Attributing racial categories to genetic conditions is the opposite of precision medicine, leads to real harms for patients, and obscures the true causes of racial disparities in health." — Stephanie Gogarten, co-first author and research scientist with the Genetics Analysis Center

As the calendar rolls over to a new academic year, the University of Washington Department of Biostatistics is excited to welcome Katherine Wilson (PhD ’19) as an Assistant Teaching Professor.