Letter From the Chair

burden worldwide—and because of the UW School of Public Health programs that ranked among the top in the world.

These rankings are no accident: Thanks in part to philanthropy, the School of Public Health is home to leading faculty and research projects; interdisciplinary work within the University; partnerships with local, national and international public health organizations that tackle real-world problems; and an excellent job-placement rate for graduates.

The program’s diverse cohort of students—many of them able to attend thanks to critical philanthropic support—was another selling point for Chacón Torrico. Collaborating with people internationally has been one of the highlights of his experience in the program, he says, noting that his cohort included students from Africa, the Middle East, North America and South America. “Everybody’s experiences and perspectives make the program and learning experience more insightful and interesting,” Chacón Torrico says.

In addition to his research on Peru and COVID-19, Chacón Torrico used his data training to improve health reporting systems in Zimbabwe. As a research assistant for the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), he partnered with a team in Zimbabwe to analyze information on how an HIV care and treatment project operated across 400 health facilities in the country.

“Horacio has shown great commitment and leadership in public health, in the academic community, in his homeland and in communities served by the project in which he has worked at I-TECH,” says IHME Professor Bernardo Hernández Prado.

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

In recognition of his academic excellence and commitment to public health, Chacón Torrico was awarded the 2022 Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence, the School of Public Health’s most prestigious recognition for graduate students.

“Horacio is a rarity in the data world: He combines a nutsand-bolts understanding of data systems with a deep understanding of the human element of these systems,” says Stefan Wiktor, clinical professor in the Department of Global Health. “He never loses sight of the fact that in public health, data is about people: the people providing the information and those using it.”

Chacón Torrico continues to research what happened in Peru during the pandemic. So far, he’s analyzed deaths by geography and demographics and studied the country’s migration patterns. His preliminary findings show connections between wealth and demographics as drivers of mortality, and these connections may reflect how strict or lenient public-health mandates were during different waves of the pandemic.

Using better data analysis to address public-health challenges continues to inspire Chacón Torrico’s work. This fall, he began his doctoral studies in global health, with a focus on health metrics and evaluation—and with funding for four years as a research assistant at IHME.

Most importantly, he won’t forget what drives his passion for public-health data.

“Every row in a data set represents a human life, or a disease, or some problem,” Chacón Torrico says. “I think we forget that, and I try not to.”

DENNIS WISE

Improving Lives Everywhere

By Patrick Crumb Chair, UW Foundation Board

The more time I spend learning about the UW’s people and projects, the more I’m reminded of an important fact: No matter where home is for you, work that’s happening on the other side of the planet can make a difference in your life.

Thanks to your philanthropic support of the people and programs that make the UW one of the nation’s best public universities, we’re in a unique position to help address complex global problems—and to train the next generation of leaders who will do the same. This issue’s Impact section provides some perfect examples.

On p. 44 we highlight the work of UW Assistant Professor of Biology Briana Abrahms, who studies how animal migrations are shifting as climate change accelerates—and who equips industry leaders and policymakers with detailed, up-to-date information and tools to better manage our lands and waters. The solutions she seeks protect not only wildlife but also human lives and livelihoods, from Botswana to the West Coast of the U.S. and beyond. And on a rapidly changing planet with a global economy, that affects us all.

At left, you’ll meet UW doctoral student Horacio Chacón Torrico. As a physician in Peru, working to help improve the health of mothers and infants in the Amazon jungle, he saw how finely focused data could be key to public-health solutions everywhere—so he found his way to the UW to study global health. Chacón Torrico is also a research assistant at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global-health research center at the UW. Its mission is a perfect fit: to provide the world with timely, relevant, scientifically sound evidence to improve health policy and practice for everyone.

It isn’t just that solutions to global problems can be found here at the UW—for instance, at the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, at IHME, or through the collaborative, multidisciplinary Population Health Initiative—it’s that when we work to solve the problems of an interconnected world, what we learn can make a direct impact in communities everywhere.

To me, that couldn’t hit closer to home.

A Toast to the Toastmaster

Shy as can be, Yvette Gunther came out of her shell 60 years ago, thanks to her UW experience

By Jon Marmor

Founding �oastmasters clubs and attending dance fitness classes every week has kept 100-year-old �vette Gunther fast on her feet since she graduated from the UW in 1945. She founded two Toastmasters clubs and two AARP chapters, was director of the U.S. Splendor National Pageant, routinely won dance contests and taught kindergarten. Pretty eye-opening stuff for Yvette Gunther, who once described herself as a “shy little girl.” Gunther, ’45, who is anything but shy these days, credits one thing for the turnaround: “The UW brought me out of my shyness,” she explains. “I was a very shy girl, but I got involved with ASUW, put up posters all over campus, and I got involved around campus. I will always remember what the UW did for me.”

Gunther celebrated her 100th birthday on July 30. Her UW memories go back 60 years, as she attended the University during World War II, when most of the male students were sent off to fight. But she needs only two seconds to declare that her UW years were “the best years of my life!”

As a shy girl, “you could say boo to me,” Gunther recalls. But she learned the art of public speaking and that turned her life around. “I entered beauty pageants and dance competitions because of that. That’s why I founded Toastmasters clubs in the Denver area,” where she has lived for many years after living in Seattle.”

A native of Vancouver, B.C., Gunther attended private girls schools but declined a full scholarship to Mills College because she couldn’t stomach going to yet another girls school. A year at Hofstra College in New York wasn’t to her liking, so she came back to the West Coast to attend the UW for the final three years. She already had a family connection. “My dad graduated from the UW and taught mining metallurgy there,” she says.

She loved the UW so much that she didn’t want to leave. But the summer after earning her bachelor’s degree in sociology and languages in 1945, she met her husband on a blind date, and they moved to his home state of Colorado. Her feelings for her alma mater have not dimmed since moving away nearly 80 years ago. Ditto for her enthusiasm for learning or connecting with people.

“I once was president of three AARP clubs at the same time,” she says. “I took as many classes as I could at the UW because I loved learning. And I really loved being a teacher of bilingual Spanish.”

Widowed twice, Gunther (who was married for 78½ years) keeps busy these days with community activities, clubs and seeing her children who live not too far away. And she still has the UW on her mind. “I’d love to go back one more time,” she says. “I will never forget the UW. It is such a great school.”

Piece of Cake

Jean Smart scores another Emmy Award hours before her birthday

By Jon Marmor

Whew! Turns out there is no jinx to being on the cover of University of Washington Magazine. We learned that when Jean Smart, ’74, our cover subject for the Spring 2022 issue, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her killer role in the HBO Max show “Hacks.” Oh, and what timing. Only a few hours after she was handed the Emmy on the evening of Monday, Sept. 12 at the Los Angeles Microsoft Theater, when the clock struck midnight, she celebrated her 71st birthday.

In her acceptance speech at the Emmys, Smart, who graduated from the UW with a bachelor’s degree in drama, said, “Thank you for a second time honoring this show. I have to tell you, I’m so blown away by

our writers who not only matched season 1 but surpassed it, and as we all know, season 2 of a show is kind of a litmus test. This has just been a thrill.” After taking a moment to express her appreciation to the show’s cast and crew, she ended with a story about young fandom. “I didn’t realize the breadth of the appeal our show,” she said, telling the audience about the time they were shooting at a shopping mall. Three young boys, who couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11, approached her and said, ‘Hey, that’s Deborah Vance,” to which the five-time Emmy recipient replied, “Hi! You should not be watching this show!”

REAL DAWGS WEAR PURPLE

MELISSA MIRANDA, ’07 Chef and Owner, Musang

At Musang, Melissa Miranda wants diners to feel like they’re stepping into her home. A proud Husky who studied sociology at the UW, Miranda was recently named one of the country’s best new chefs by Food & Wine Magazine. Family is at the heart of her acclaimed restaurant in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, from the seasonally inspired Filipino food to the name of the restaurant —Musang is her father’s nickname. But family also means community for Miranda: “When we opened, we always said this isn’t a restaurant, but a place for community to gather.” During the COVID pandemic, she transformed Musang into a community kitchen that served up to 200 free meals a day, and today the restaurant still partners with local organizations to address food insecurity.

Musang owner Melissa Miranda with her parents, Reynaldo Musang and Marlene Bermudez Miranda