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Boundless opportunities to serve Spokane

This summer, leaders from the University of Washington, Washington State University, and the Spokane community met three times in an effort to develop a collaborative path forward for expanding medical education and research in Spokane. Both Universities came to the table with different perspectives on how best to meet the economic and workforce needs of Spokane and the state, and we were privileged to have community leadership present to encourage and push us to “think outside the box” and challenge our respective positions. The conversations were productive, timely and important and have led to a new opportunity for the UW’s WWAMI program in Spokane.

At these meetings, UW Regent Orin Smith and I advocated for a new, united vision [PDF] or Spokane’s Academic Health Science and Research Center, anchored by a four-year medical school operated through an expanded and remodeled WWAMI partnership. This new, “mega-brand” partnership would immediately expand the four-year medical school in Spokane and fully capture the highest economic value for Spokane without unnecessary duplication of taxpayer costs. The vision aligned and built on the $1.6 billion vision developed by Tripp Umbach and championed by the Spokane business community in 2010.

In order to fully realize this collaborative vision and provide the best education for our students in Spokane, both the UW and WSU needed to be fully committed to its success. At our final meeting together, WSU leaders indicated that their priority, first and foremost, would be the creation of their own independent medical school. While this wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, we respect WSU’s choice.

Out of respect for our different opinions and acknowledging that our medical students and the community need us to move forward, both institutions agreed to proceed in our own individual directions. UW and WSU leadership signed an initial Memorandum of Understanding [PDF] (MOU) last week agreeing to mutually dissolve our WWAMI partnership and setting up a process to fully transition the WWAMI program and associated state resources from Washington State University to the University of Washington in Spokane. If this transition and transfer are successfully completed prior to January, both Universities will commit to remaining neutral on respective proposals for medical education expansion next legislative session. Much work remains regarding the transition, but this MOU provides a framework for moving forward.

So, what’s next for the University of Washington in Spokane?

While the MOU marks the end of a successful, 40-year partnership with Washington State University, it also marks the beginning of boundless opportunities for the University of Washington and the Spokane community.

First, we remain 100% committed to the ongoing success of UW medical students and our four-year medical school in Spokane. The cornerstone of the UW’s WWAMI program is that it provides the #1 primary and rural medicine education program in the country to local communities across our region, and we’re committed to maintaining this standard of excellence for our students and the Spokane community. We believe the community-based WWAMI model, combined with investment in new residency programs in Eastern Washington, remains the most efficient, cost-effective and high-quality approach to solve the state’s physician shortage.

Second, we will begin a process with WSU to transition UW Medicine’s WWAMI program and the associated state resources back from WSU to the UW in Spokane. This is an important step. In order for us to expand medical education and research without delay, we need to ensure the ongoing viability of the UW School of Medicine in Spokane. President Floyd has assured me and the community members who participated in our discussions that WSU remains supportive of the ongoing success and growth of UW Medicine’s program in Spokane, so we anticipate this transition can happen smoothly and with little delay.

Next, we move full speed ahead with our plans to ask the state legislature for funding to double our medical school class size in Spokane. Paul Ramsey and Chancellor Lisa Brown jointly announced this plan a year ago at the GSI Annual Meeting in September 2013, and we intend to fulfill that promise. We have submitted our 2015–17 budget request to the Governor, and funding for this initiative will be a top legislative priority for the UW during the next legislative session in Olympia. The University of Washington is prepared to proceed with medical school expansion independently, but we also look forward to creating new and expanded academic and research partnerships with other higher education institutions in Spokane.

Finally, we are in the process of looking at several key strategies to expand and deepen our engagement in Spokane, and to improve our medical education program to best serve the needs of the city and our state. The Medical Education Access and Affordability Taskforce that I convened earlier this year will make recommendations in this regard later this month, and additional guidance will be available from Tripp Umbach in late October. I’m excited about the University of Washington’s future in Spokane. Stay tuned for major announcements later this month.

For additional information on the MOU signed last week, and for ongoing updates about our plans for expansion in Spokane, I encourage you to visit our website, uw.edu/spokanemedschool. Thank you for your continued commitment to your community, to our state’s medical students, and to the University of Washington.