The Spokesman-Review this week published a guest column authored by WSU Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown and Paul Ramsey, dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine, outlining the success and bright future of the WWAMI program on the Spokane campus.
Becoming a first-year medical education WWAMI site in 2008, WSU Spokane has strengthened and expanded its program, with this fall marking the start of a pilot program to provide second-year medical education to 19 WWAMI students. In order for the pilot program to become permanent, state funding from the Legislature is needed. This funding is currently allocated in both the House and Senate’s proposed operating budgets for the 2013-15 biennium and if preserved in the compromise budget, final approval by the national medical school accreditation body will establish WSU Spokane as the first WWAMI site to offer students all four years of medical education.
The guest column comes on the heels of a study released recently by national health care and higher education consulting firm Tripp Umbach, detailing how WSU Spokane is exceeding expectations with an annual economic impact of $350 million on the greater Spokane community. You can find our previous coverage of the survey here.
The UW School of Medicine began the WWAMI program in 1971, offering medical education for students in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, partnering and sharing resources across the region to provide high-quality, cost-effective medical education.