UW News

June 24, 1999

University of Washington Department of Medicine honors five regional faculty members

UW Health Sciences/UW Medicine

Five University of Washington (UW) clinical faculty members at the Department of Medicine’s regional teaching sites have been selected for 1999 WWAMI Excellence in Teaching Awards. WWAMI is an acronym for the five states that have joined in partnership with the UW School of Medicine to offer a regionalized medical education program — Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. UW medical students receive clinical training in towns and cities throughout the five-state region. This is the second year of the award program, which recognizes the educational contributions of distant sites. Honored this year for enthusiasm in teaching and for consistent dedication to medical education are:

Dr. John Bramante of Soldotna, Alaska. Bramante completed his primary-care internal medicine residency at the UW in 1992, then served as chief medical resident at Providence Medical Center in Seattle. He was chief of staff in 1997-98 at Central Peninsula General Hospital, and has served on the hospital’s executive committee for the past three years. A clinical assistant professor of medicine, he has taught for five years in the UW internal medicine residency rotation in Soldotna.


Dr. David Hindson of Boise. Hindson is an internist and endocrinologist at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he is chief of the medical service. He is a former internal medicine clerkship director and was associate chief of staff for ambulatory care at the Boise VA Medical Center. As governor for Idaho in the American College of Physicians, he participated in writing “Learning from Practitioners: Office-Based Teaching of Internal Medicine Residents.” A clinical professor of medicine, he is also active in patient education and professional continuing education.


Dr. Samuel Palpant of Spokane. Palpant, who is a clinical associate professor of medicine, has a teaching style that engages students and illuminates ideas. He emphasizes the history and physical exam in his training program, because he believes observational and listening skills remain essential even as technology changes. A former hospital medical director in Kenya, Africa, Palpant assists students and residents in obtaining international rotations in developing countries. Palpant also helps students consider patients’ spiritual beliefs, an area he says is important to many patients but often neglected by physicians.


Dr. Neal Sorensen of Billings, Mont. Sorensen practices general internal medicine in the office of Internal Medicine Associates and at Deaconess Billings Clinic and Saint Vincent Hospital and Health Center. He is a 1981 alumnus of the UW School of Medicine, and completed his residency in internal medicine at University of Alabama Hospitals. He is a clinical associate professor of medicine.


Dr. John Trauscht of Missoula, Mont. Trauscht has practiced oncology, hematology and general internal medicine at the Western Montana Clinic since 1981. In 1990 he became board certified in geriatrics, also. Alongside his excellent teaching skills as a clinical assistant professor of medicine, Trauscht is highly regarded among his peers as an outstanding clinician in the care of cancer patients.


In addition to plaques awarded during presentation ceremonies at each teaching site, a permanent wall display at the UW School of Medicine in Seattle honors these exemplary teachers.