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Who Are We?

The University of Washington School of Medicine, Center for an Informed Public, and Department of Communication have launched the One Vax Two Lives campaign to reflect how one vaccine in a pregnant person benefits and protects the life of the mother and her baby. 

Our mission is to provide medically and scientifically accurate information about vaccination to pregnant and breastfeeding individuals.

Run by doctors and scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Department of Communication who are dedicated to the public health of pregnant and nursing individuals.


Kristina Adams Waldorf, MD

Kristina Adams Waldorf, MD is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is an internationally recognized expert in how infections impact pregnancy and how vaccines and therapeutics protect the mother and fetus. She is Chair of the National Institutes of Health Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Biology Study Section. She is a member of the Center for Reproductive Sciences and the Center for InnateImmunity and Immune Diseases. Her grant support has come from the National Institutes of Health, the March of Dimes, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, the CanadianInstitute for Health Research and the Australian National Medical Research Council.

Koko Koltai, PhD

Post-doctoral fellow at Center for the Informed Public
 
Dr. Koltai studies how groups’ use of social media affects decision making and information behavior. She researches information-seeking behaviors, trust  assessment of information (and misinformation), and decision making with a focus on when people dissent from the scientific mainstream (e.g., vaccine  dissent). She specifically focuses on how social networking sites and digital communities interact with information behavior practices. She has been  an integral member of One Vax, Two Lives since its inception due to her  experience with anti-vax misinformation narratives and how they spread using social media. 

Alex Stonehill

Head of Creative Strategy, UW Comm Lead

Alex Stonehill is Head of Creative Strategy for the University of Washington’s Communication Leadership Master’s Program. He spent a decade as an international journalist and journalism educator, before co-founding The Seattle Globalist, a hybrid media/education non-profit devoted to increasing representation in journalism and media production fields. At UW Communication Leadership, Alex has led hundreds of students in applied learning projects touching everything from racial equity, the environment and public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has led behavioral health campaigns promoting masks and vaccines that have reached hundreds of millions of people in the US and India.

Ekta Dokania, MCCL

UW Comm Lead

Ekta Dokania is a graduate student at the University of  Washington's Communication Leadership Master's Program specializing in Content Strategy, Marketing and Analytics. She has more than 8 years of project management experience in integrated marketing, strategic communications and audio-video content creation. Ekta was recognized as a 2021 'Husky 100' by the University of Washington. She worked as project manager on behavioral health campaigns for promoting mask wearing in India and the One Vax, Two Lives campaign to increase COVID-19 vaccines up take in  pregnant women in Washington State.

Lauren Marcell, MS4

Medical Student Lead

Lauren Marcell graduated from the George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Public Health. She is now a fourth year medical student at the University of Washington. She is the founder and student co-director of the UWSOM Asylum Evaluation Student Clinic that serves asylum seekers in Washington State. Prior to medical school, she supported the development of national public health programs for MDR-TB in Liberia and PMTCT of HIV in Malawi, as well as served in the Ebola response in Sierra Leone. She is passionate about global health equity, infectious diseases, reproductive justice and asylum and refugee health.

Isabelle Crary, MS3

Medical student research team

Isabelle Crary graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology. She is now a third year medical student at the University of Washington. She has been involved in research on anemia in pregnancy, breast cancer prevention and treatment, and adolescent nutrition. She is passionate about healthcare for individuals who are pregnant, reproductive justice, and nutrition education.

Carly Baxter, MS3

Medical student research team

Carly Baxter graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a minor in French studies. She is now a 3rd year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She has worked with the Maternal Mental Health Access group coordinated by the University of Washington and Washington Department of Health in an effort to reduce maternal mortality rates in Washington State. She is passionate about reproductive justice, equitable health care access and volunteering within her community at local health fairs.

Sara Rutz, MS4

Medical student research team

Sara Rutz graduated from the University of Alaska, Anchorage with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Sciences and a minor in Psychology. She is now a fourth year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, she worked with diverse & underserved populations in patient care settings and as an insurance specialist for 5 years. She has been involved in research on improving outcomes for infants with Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome, quality improvement in obstetric care, and providing up to date information asa volunteer for the COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team. She is passionate about reproductive medicine and improving access to care for rural and underserved populations.

Emily Huebner, MS4

Medical student research team, webmaster

Emily Huebner (she/her/hers) graduated with a bachelor’s  in biochemistry from the University of Washington in 2017, received a  master’s in clinical research from Boston University in 2019, and is  currently in her 4th year of medical school at the University of Washington  School of Medicine. She will be applying for residency in obstetrics and  gynecology this fall and has interests in reproductive justice, working with  underserved communities, and patient-inspired research. Her research  experience in women’s health include both basic science and clinical  research, from exploring pathogenicity of certain infectious diseases to  outcomes of COVID-19 in pregnancy. She is excited to work with One Vax, Two Lives to empower pregnant people and their loved ones to feel confident about  their health decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Magali Sanchez,
MPH (Epidemiology)

Grad student researcher

Magali Sanchez is a first-year master's in public health student at the University of Washington in the Department of Epidemiology. She has 10 years of experience working in public health including as a COVID-19 vaccination program manager for Seattle & King County PublicHealth and as a clinic manager for the White Center Clinic with Sea Mar Community Health Centers. Her interests in public health include vaccination epidemiology and health equity. For her capstone MPH project, she will be investigating vaccine hesitancy in Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latinx pregnant individuals in Washington State – as part of the research arm of One Vax, Two Lives.

Elizabeth Cox, MPH (Community-Oriented Public Health Practice)

Grad student researcher

Elizabeth graduated from Willamette University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. She is currently a second year master's of public health student at the University of Washington. She has previously worked with organizations such as Solid Ground, FamilyWorks, and Hunger Intervention Program in Seattle on programs related to food security. Her areas of interest in public health include disaster preparedness and environmental health. For her MPH capstone project, she will be researching vaccine hesitancy among pregnant individuals in rural Washington for the One Vax Two Lives campaign.

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