Skip to content

University of Washington and Gonzaga University Announce UW Medical School Partnership

I’m very pleased to share an exciting announcement with you today. The University of Washington and Gonzaga University have signed an agreement to enhance and expand medical education and research in Spokane. Together with Gonzaga, we will educate the next generation of health professionals and enhance the health, well-being and prosperity of the entire region.

Read more details on the UW Today website.

Forging the UW’s future in Spokane

The University of Washington’s vision to expand medical education in Spokane has been buoyed this month by stellar hires, resolute community support, a promising partnership with Gonzaga University and construction on the new UW Spokane Center in the heart of the city.

New faculty and a new curriculum

Preparing our UW Spokane faculty for our incoming and returning medical students has been our top priority for the past several months. For more than three years, our medical school faculty have been reinventing the way we teach our medical students with an exciting new state-of-the-art curriculum. The new curriculum vastly improves the classroom experience, gets students into the clinical setting more quickly and allows us to offer all four years of medical school in Spokane. Their work will culminate this August with implementation of that curriculum for all our medical students.

Our commitment to our incoming Spokane medical students is unwavering. After the mutual dissolution of our medical education partnership with WSU last October, we have acted quickly to ensure that the transition for our Spokane-based students is seamless. We are finalizing the hiring and training of medical school faculty, and we continue to seek state funding from the Legislature to ensure the UW School of Medicine’s future in Spokane beyond this coming academic year.

Exploring a partnership with Gonzaga

Our discussions with Gonzaga University continue, and while we await the outcome of the legislative session and have some important details to work out, our goal is to institute a new Spokane medical education partnership with Gonzaga beginning in the 2016–17 academic year. Our two universities share a rich history of education and service to the state of Washington, and our mutually shared commitments to social justice, diversity, global engagement and care for the planet have all the makings of an exciting collaboration.

Our efforts to address the medical needs of our state continue to gain support. Members of the Executive Committee of Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI) and the Vision 2030 Oversight Board recently penned an open letter to legislative leaders, lending their support to fund both the expansion of the UW School of Medicine in Spokane and Washington State University’s initiative to create its own medical school. GSI has been a longtime advocate of medical education in Spokane, and we appreciate their advocacy work and their shared vision to expand higher education in the region.

A strengthened UW presence in Spokane

This month, we’re welcoming Catherine Brazil as our new director of government and community relations for the region, effective May 26. Catherine will represent the University of Washington in Spokane, building and maintaining relationships in the community and throughout Eastern Washington.

In addition, I invite you to visit the UW’s new Spokane Center, which is set to open officially next month at 201 W. Main St. We will host a public open house on Wednesday, June 24, from 2–5 p.m. I hope you can join us to learn about the center’s interactive features, the UW’s limitless opportunities for current and future students, and our long-term plans for higher education and community engagement in the Spokane region.

In the meantime, you can keep up with our progress at spokanemedschool.uw.edu.

Medical Education in Washington: Do No Harm

Congratulations to Washington State University on the official signing of legislation to seek accreditation for an independent medical school. As they begin the process of seeking accreditation, we at the University of Washington offer our appreciation for more than 40 years of medical education partnership with our colleagues in Pullman and Spokane.

With the passage of WSU’s policy bill, significant decisions remain.

Budget proposals have been released in Olympia, and the prospects for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane are decidedly mixed. The House of Representatives budget provides us with sufficient funding — $4.7 million per year — to pursue the course we set together with Spokane: to continue and expand our four-year medical school. If this budget approach is adopted, the UW will begin to address our doctor shortage immediately and continue to serve Spokane students and the physician workforce needs of the state for years to come.

The Senate budget, unfortunately, defunds our current efforts in Spokane — likely eliminating operations and taking expansion off the table. Only $1.25 million in annual funding is provided to the UW for our Spokane medical school, well below the House funding level of $4.7 million per year. Put simply, if the Senate budget is adopted, our medical school in Spokane is in serious jeopardy. We will be forced to reduce our Washington student class size or transfer some students back to the Seattle campus for first and second year training. We would consider this a tremendous setback for our students, for the community of Spokane and the state of Washington.

We will be working hard over the next several weeks with our community supporters in Spokane and around the state to inform the legislature and the Governor about what is at stake in this year’s biennial budget proposal. We need doctors now, and the UW School of Medicine is ready to provide them.

On April 15, I will come to Spokane to join the community in celebrating the UW’s newest Spokane medical students. It’s imperative that we keep their education and success our highest priority.

Our momentum to expand medical research, education and access in eastern Washington is palpable, and we will accelerate our vision for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane with your continued support.

I invite you to keep up with our progress at uw.edu/spokanemedschool.

Sincerely,

Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies

Gonzaga explores partnership with UW School of Medicine in Spokane

Dear friends,

This afternoon, Gonzaga University President Thayne McCulloh announced Gonzaga’s intention to engage in a community-focused exploration of a medical education and research partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Spokane. We invited Gonzaga to consider a potential partnership as part of our efforts to expand Spokane’s medical school and biomedical research in the region.

Innovative and productive partnerships are a hallmark of the University of Washington and certainly of the UW School of Medicine, which is recognized as the top primary care, family medicine and rural medicine program in the nation. We look forward to exploring this exciting public-private partnership with Gonzaga and the Spokane community. You can read Gonzaga’s announcement here, as well as learn more about the University of Washington’s expansion plans and growing presence in Spokane.

We will now begin to develop and identify the specific details of a UW-GU partnership. In the coming weeks, both universities will engage with key constituencies on the role and value of a UW-GU partnership, and how it could best meet the needs of our students, Spokane, our respective institutions and the state.

Thank you for your continued support of excellence in medical education for the citizens of Washington.

Sincerely,

Michael K. Young

Cost-benefit report on medical school expansion in Spokane

UW Regent Orin Smith and I were in Spokane today sharing the findings of a comprehensive, independent analysis of the costs and benefits of medical school expansion efforts in Spokane and Eastern Washington.

The report, conducted by Tripp Umbach, comes on the heels of a 2010 study — commissioned by Greater Spokane Incorporated — which found that rapidly expanding the existing UW-led medical program in Spokane into a four-year medical school would contribute to an estimated economic impact of $1.6 billion and 9,000 jobs over a 20-year period. The report released today reaffirms those findings. It also confirms that an expanded UW School of Medicine in Spokane is the most cost-effective use of taxpayer funds to grow the state’s physician workforce.

Growing the UW School of Medicine in Spokane has several distinct advantages. First, we are poised for rapid expansion now. This legislative session (starting in January) we will ask the Legislature for funding to double our medical school class size in Spokane. When fully enrolled, the school will have 320 students, with 80 graduating each year, nearly as large as our class size in Seattle.

Next, the UW has an established track record of creating medical residencies in Washington state, both as a medical provider and as a partner with healthcare organizations across the state. As the Tripp Umbach report notes, increasing the number of medical school graduates is only part of the equation. The highest predictor of where doctors will stay and practice is where they do their medical residencies. In order for graduates to get jobs in our state and practice in areas we need them most, we must have more residencies. The UW is working with the state Medical Association on a request for the next legislative session to expand residency programs in underserved areas of the state, especially in Eastern Washington.

Finally, the UW’s national leadership in research and commercialization will fuel economic development in Spokane. The faculty of the UW School of Medicine are the best in the country at competing for and attracting research dollars to support their work. The UW also leads the country in startups and innovation. UW faculty already participate in 40 joint research projects in Spokane — from behavioral health to diabetes research — and with an expanded UW School of Medicine, we will build on our existing collaborations and seek new opportunities in a city that is clearly entrepreneurial and ambitious.

There is still a lot of work to do. While our successful 40-year medical education partnership with Washington State University is ending, we are committed to expanded opportunities for growth and impact in Spokane. As we grow, we also look forward to a more visible and active presence in the community. We’re in the process of establishing a dedicated leadership team and cultivating new academic partnerships. And, as you may have heard, our bid to transform the city of Spokane Visitor Center into a UW headquarters for our community development efforts has been recommended to the City Council, and we are optimistic it will be approved next month.

It’s an exciting time for the University of Washington in Spokane. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the incredible Spokane medical community, business community and political leadership that have helped us achieve so much to date. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the community to help grow a vibrant, innovative economy in Spokane, and to ensure all Washington residents have access to the highest quality health care.

I invite you to read Tripp Umbach’s complete analysis online.

We’re very optimistic about our future here with you, together.

Sincerely,
Michael K Young signature
Michael K. Young

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.

UW and WSU announce Memorandum of Understanding on medical education expansion

Leadership at the University of Washington and Washington State University have reached an agreement that will mutually dissolve their WWAMI partnership and provide a pathway to pursue separate solutions to address the state’s medical education needs and physician shortage.

In order to provide the greatest benefit to the state and to meet the significant demand for more physicians, leaders from both universities agree that UW and WSU will independently pursue their respective proposals to meet the state’s medical education needs. The two universities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that acknowledges both WSU’s immediate efforts to secure accreditation for a new medical school and UW School of Medicine’s independent pursuit of rapid expansion of its four-year WWAMI program in Spokane.

“The collective needs of our students, the Spokane community, and our state are our top priority,” said UW President Michael K. Young. “To this end, the UW remains fully committed to immediately expanding our medical school in Spokane, including a commitment to grow the research, industry commercialization and medical residency opportunities that will ensure a vibrant, healthcare economy well into the future.”

Read the full press release | Memorandum of Understanding (PDF)

The next generation of medical education

Through innovation, collaboration and partnership, the University of Washington is committed to improving health care for all Washingtonians. Our outstanding medical professionals and educators are changing lives in every corner of our state, including partnerships in greater Spokane and beyond.

In Spokane, the UW delivers a high level of excellence in medical education through local partnerships, discoveries in medical research and engagement with the students and communities we serve. Our WWAMI program — the nation’s preeminent regional medical education program through the UW School of Medicine — has been serving students and communities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho for more than four successful decades.

In fact, The Olympian and The Everett Herald have each opined about the indisputable success of our nationally lauded program. We’re ready to collaborate with our partners and the community to expand WWAMI to the “Next Generation of Medical Education.” Toward that end, we recently launched a website that details our plans to expand Spokane’s medical school.