When: December 5, 2025 from 12:30 – 1:30pm PT
Where: 221 Raitt Hall
Join us for the CSDE Autumn 2025 Lightning Talk & Poster Session! On December 7th at 12:30pm early career researchers will present their research posters and lightning talks. While you learn from them, you can also enjoy refreshments and conversation with the authors and audience. We look forward to seeing you!
Please join us for short talks and a poster session featuring research from our CSDE Trainees and Fellows.
CSDE Trainee Tess Abrahamson-Richards (Social Work), former CSDE Trainee Elizabeth Pelletier, CSDE Affiliate Jennifer Romich (Social Work), and co-author Kilohana Haitsuka recently published an article titled, “Perinatal Wage Equity, Parental Leave Access, and Reproductive Justice Among American Indian and Alaska Native Working Mothers in Washington State,” in Social Service Review. The authors used mixed methods and grounded their analysis in an Indigenous theoretical framework. Quantitative findings reveal significant perinatal earnings disruptions, disparities in both earned wage income and projected paid leave eligibility, and intersectional inequities in projected paid leave eligibility. Qualitative results underscore the serious adverse impacts of insufficient paid leave access for working AIAN mothers, as well as both the inequities and the individual and community strengths they experience after welcoming a new child. This is the first study of state-funded paid family medical leave or of perinatal earnings volatility to focus on Native people.
CSDE Affiliate Kemi M. Doll (Obstetrics & Gynecology) was quoted in Scientific American in coverage of a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to remove the black box warning on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medications for menopause. Estrogen-only therapies, however, will still carry labels that share the risk of endometrial or uterine cancer. Doll emphasized that people who have a uterus should be aware of the risks of these treatments. Doll also called for more research on HRT with new cohorts and centered on new questions that are relevant to women today. Doll’s contribution to this article was also featured in UW Today. Read more.
CSDE Affiliate Marie Spiker (Epidemiology) was recently quoted in The Seattle Times emphasizing the strong evidence base on the negative health consequences of food insecurity. Spiker was interviewed for an article on how the federal government shutdown threw the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) into uncertainty, leaving 930,000 people in Washington at risk of food insecurity. This feature was also highlighted in UW News. Read more.
CSDE External Affiliate Butch de Castro (Seattle University) and CSDE Affiliate Teresa M Ward (Pediatrics), with primary author Natalie Rejto and co-authors Mayumi Willgerodt and Elaine Walsh, recently had an article published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research, titled “Nursing Work Schedules, Specialties, Sleep Hygiene, and the Impact on Sleep Health.” This research was part of Rejto’s PhD work and supervised by the other authors on the research team. The study examined whether sleep hygiene behaviors moderated the association between job characteristics and sleep health among nurse using cross-sectional data from the Nurses’ Health Study 3. Working 12-hour or longer shifts was not associated with decreased odds of healthy sleep compared with working <12-hour shifts on working days or work-free days. Working in schools and critical care was associated with 50% or higher odds of unhealthy sleep compared with working in the operating room and oncology. Findings suggest sleep hygiene behaviors cannot fully mitigate the effect of job characteristics on sleep health.