School of Public Health
NWCPHP is housed within the School of Public Health at the University of Washington.
Although the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (NWCPHP) does not receive core funding from the University of Washington, we are very much part of the University. We are housed in the Department of Health Services, one of the five departments that form the 
University of Washington School of Public Health (SPH). Our training, research, and evaluation activities reflect the university’s values of integrity, diversity, excellence, collaboration, innovation, and respect.
We are the SPH's "outreach arm" to the public health community of the Pacific Northwest. Our core mission is to bring academia and practice together, bringing valuable academic resources to the practice community and also conveying valuable "in the field" practicality to academia.
For example, we help find practicum positions for Master of Public Health students and our office provides a large number of research assistantships to SPH students. We publish and distribute Northwest Public Health, a journal that promotes the discussion of public health issues, ideas, and innovations in the Pacific Northwest.
While the SPH is our strongest partner among the UW Schools and Colleges, the NWCPHP collaborates with faculty in other UW Schools, including the Information School, School of Law, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Pharmacy.
This interdisciplinary faculty and the UW’s strong support for research allow NWCPHP to successfully compete for funding that supports evidence-based public health research. In these ways and in many others, the NWCPHP's location within the University of Washington uniquely positions us to better serve the practice community.
NWCPHP Logo
Our logo is unique, causing some to wonder...what is it?
It's a soul catcher, and it represents physical and spiritual well-being.
Many northwest Indians wore small versions of the soul catcher around their necks and placed large soul catchers in the smoke holes of their homes to make sure family souls could not escape. This was, according to tribal Shaman, critically important to health.
If a soul were to vacate a body it could be replaced with disease. It was the soul catcher's job to catch the soul, keeping the soul within the body and protecting people against illness. Eventually, it became a universal symbol of physical and spiritual well-being.
The soul catcher, which illustrates two bears keeping watch in opposite directions, represents the UW School of Public Health's dedication to improving public health. The NWCPHP belongs to the School of Public Health and therefore, also uses this meaningful symbol. Marvin Oliver, an internationally acclaimed printmaker and sculptor with work displayed around the world, designed the soul catcher in 1981.
This soul catcher is a registered trademark of the University of Washington School of Public Health, to which NWCPHP belongs, and cannot be used without express written permission from the school.
