Congratulations to Dr. Linda K. Ko!

ITHS is thrilled to announce the promotion of Linda K. Ko, MPH, PhD from Associate Professor to Full Professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington School of Public Health.  

Linda K. Ko, PhD

Dr. Ko is a behavioral scientist. She leads the Health Communication Research Group in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington and is also the director of the Fred Hutch’s Health Communication Research Center, or HCRC. Her expertise involves the development, testing, evaluation and dissemination of health communication strategies to promote health equity.  She has a strong interest in developing linguistic and cultural adaptation of health communication interventions for disadvantaged racial/ethnic population using a multi-level perspective. She has extensive experience using formative and participatory research strategies for the development of health communication interventions for immigrant populations.

Dr. Ko is also ITHS Community Engagement Program Co-Director and Community Voices Faculty Lead, where she plays a critical role in increasing community involvement in every stage of research through community-academic research partnerships in eastern Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI). 

This is an important recognition of the caliber and importance of her work not just in Washington, but by her colleagues across the country as well.   

In the future, Dr. Ko is interested in expanding the breadth of her research to include infrastructure-focused grants as a Principal Investigator, as infrastructures help mentor early career investigators: 

“My focus is around building synergy across different disciplines in order to catalyze research discoveries, create interdisciplinary science, and accelerate dissemination and implementation of scientific knowledge to the real world,” says Dr. Ko.  

My focus is around building synergy across different disciplines in order to catalyze research discoveries, create interdisciplinary science, and accelerate dissemination and implementation of scientific knowledge to the real world

She adds that while there are exceptions, many of these grants are led by full professors given the sizable budget, scope of work, and many complex components that need to work in harmony. 

Dr. Ko is also thinking globally, saying “My international collaboration is beginning to shape, and the rank of Full Professor will accelerate relationship building given the credibility that is attributed to this rank internationally. “ 

My international collaboration is beginning to shape, and the rank of Full Professor will accelerate relationship building given the credibility that is attributed to this rank internationally

She will continue to teach the same course: Qualitative Research Methods.  

This change becomes effective July 1, 2022. Please join us in wishing Linda congratulations on this significant career advancement.