Dr. Michelle A. Williams is a Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health at the University of Washington's (UW) School of Public Health. Dr. Williams is also Co-Director of the Center for Perinatal Studies at Swedish Medical Center and the Director of the Reproductive Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology (RPPE) Training Program. In 1993, she developed the University of Washington Multidisciplinary International Research Training (UW-MIRT) Program, which trains students from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds for research and leadership careers in public health. By identifying and implementing alliances for this global health program, Dr. Williams provides undergraduate students with life enriching and academically rigorous experiences in developing countries. At the same time, students and faculty in the MIRT Program dedicate themselves to addressing real global public health problems with their partners in developing countries. Dr. Williams and her team of collaborators around the world have been able to give "hands on - minds on" experiences to more than 150 students, affording each participant the opportunity to become actively involved in researching and bringing solutions to global health issues that literally affect hundreds of thousands of individuals in twelve nations. Dr. Williams has had an enormous impact on training the next generation of researchers, public health leaders, and epidemiologists and that impact has been and continues to be far reaching. To date, through her work in the Department of Epidemiology and the Minority International Research Training Program, she has trained and mentored 23 MD graduates, 28 PhD. graduates, and 67 Master's degree graduates, twenty of whom are now faculty in institutions of higher learning in the United States and abroad.
