For more than a decade, Dr. Nora Kenworthy has shared her expertise in public health through her research and teaching as a professor at the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Nursing & Health Studies. Her work examines how social, political, technological and cultural forces shape the health of patients and populations.
Kenworthy’s research has had considerable impact — shaping publicly engaged conversations about healthcare, politics, rights and inequities across diverse global settings. Her efforts in this area haven’t gone unnoticed.
This year, she was named the recipient of not one but two different university accolades: the Distinguished Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities Award and the Outstanding Public Service Award.
“As a scholar trained in interdisciplinary research, I have found a particularly productive home for cross- and inter-disciplinary work at UW Bothell,” Kenworthy said. “Sometimes it’s hard to draw a line between where the scholarship ends and community and public service begins, especially in this time when public health faces so many challenges, and our partnerships with the public are all the more important.”
Distinction for scholarly contributions
Each year, the Distinguished Research, Scholarship & Activity Award is presented to a faculty member in recognition of scholarly or creative achievement exemplifying the standards of excellence required by the research-intensive education environment of UW Bothell.
Kenworthy’s research first began in the global domain while completing a doctorate in Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University n 2013. Her dissertation covered the socio-political impacts of HIV interventions in Lesotho. As she said, “I really cut my teeth as a public health worker and researcher in a deeply political context during a time of HIV denialism in South Africa.”
She further developed her dissertation research and later published her first book, “Mistreated: The Political Consequences of the Fight Against AIDS in Lesotho.” Her more recent investigations have hit closer to home, with a particular focus on the political aftermath of the pandemic in the U.S. and how it changed people’s choices around their health and the health of their communities.
“I really see my work in the U.S. as a global health project,” she said. “The U.S. shapes a lot of the world’s economic, technological and health realities, and so we have global impacts. But also, we are a country with a lot of global health problems and health inequalities, with a lot of health statistics that look more like those of lower- and middle-income countries than our high-income country peers.
“A global health view of the United States right now can help us to better understand what’s going on — and hopefully, how we can do better.”
In 2024, Kenworthy published her second book, “Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare,” which recently won the inaugural Procedure Award. The award honors imaginative books that challenge conventional medical narratives.
Dedication to public service
In alignment with the Carnegie Foundation’s purpose of community engagement, UW Bothell’s Outstanding Public Service Award recognizes staff and faculty service that addresses critical societal issues, contributes to an engaged citizenry, strengthens democratic values and civic responsibility, and contributes to the public good.
Public service is at the heart of Kenworthy’s work as both a scholar and a teacher. Her research both centers on and engages with populations that have historically been marginalized in healthcare. It has been used by human rights and health justice organizations to advance health. Kenworthy’s investigation into labor conditions for garment workers in Lesotho is an example of this, as it led to a groundbreaking report by the Worker Rights Consortium, which contributed to improved workers’ rights.
In her latest research, she has been working with disability communities across the U.S. to develop community-based concepts of digital health, safety and care.
Kenworthy also brings her commitment to public service into the classroom through partnerships with healthcare organizations both close to campus and around the globe. These partnerships offer mutually beneficial learning opportunities — as was the case in 2023 with a Collaborative Online International Learning partnership with Pravah, a youth empowerment nonprofit in India.
The organization was looking to learn more about youth mental health and peer-to-peer training resources. Pravah trained students in its model of civic empowerment, and then the students developed accessible and adaptable peer-led mental health first aid resources.
“A lot of students in the class were youth who were also dealing with their own mental health crises and fallout from the pandemic, and in the process of coming up with these materials, they also learned a lot that they went on to implement in their own lives and in their communities,” Kenworthy said. “I think it was a really beautiful example of how the global-to-local connection can happen for students through these types of courses.”
An extraordinary collaborator
This past year, Kenworthy also stepped outside the world of academia in her community-engaged work as the co-host of “In the Meanwhile,” a podcast exploring how everyday people can continue to be civically engaged at a time of multiple crises.
“The name of the podcast is based on the idea that we have to figure out what to do with our lives ‘in the meanwhile,’ while we’re waiting for a better world to come about,” she said. “We’re all trying to figure out how to make these micro-decisions about how we live our lives and try to be ethical in a deeply unethical world. We wanted to have a podcast that sits in that space alongside people who are trying to do that every week.”
On the podcast, she and Marcus Harrison Green, her co-host and the founder and publisher of the South Seattle Emerald, interview guests ranging from community organizers and activists to scholars and politicians. One of Kenworthy’s favorite guests so far was Katie Wilson, then mayoral candidate and now the mayor of Seattle.
“What distinguishes Nora most is the spirit she brings to this work: one of humility, curiosity and care,” wrote Green in his letter recommending Kenworthy for the Outstanding Public Service Award. “She doesn’t enter communities as an expert but as a partner and listener. That ethos has infused ‘In the Meanwhile’ and all of our collaborations, reminding both of us — and our audiences — that scholarship and storytelling can be acts of public service when they center humanity.
“Nora has been an extraordinary collaborator. For her tireless commitment to bridging the University and the community, and for her profound contributions to public understanding and civic life, I can think of no one more deserving of this recognition.”
“What distinguishes Nora most is the spirit she brings to this work: one of humility, curiosity and care. She doesn’t enter communities as an expert but as a partner and listener.”
Marcus Harrison Green, founder and publisher of the South Seattle Emerald
The freedom to be boundless
Kenworthy said that one vital component that makes her work possible is the institutional support she receives from UW Bothell.
“There are many places that don’t value this kind of interdisciplinary, community-oriented and politically active work,” she said. “I’m really grateful to have a place like UW Bothell where this work is not only valued but encouraged. That’s a really beautiful thing, and I credit a lot of my work to having that kind of freedom.
“This type of scholarship is meaningful in academia but I hope also to the communities we work with.”
