Milestones

For more than 60 years, UW Medicine has been at the forefront of teaching, research and patient care.

• 1945

  Governor Monard C. Wallgren signs Medical-Dental Bill authorizing the formation of the UW Schools of Medicine and Dentistry.

• 1946

  The first classes for the UW medical school students begin. Classes are located at the Kings County Hospital.

• 1950

  The School of Medicine graduates its first class — 50 students receive degrees.

• 1955

  Dr. Edmond Fischer and Dr. Edwin Krebs submit for publication a description of reversible protein phosphorylation, work that eventually earns them the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

• 1956

  The Division of Medical Genetics opens in the Department of Medicine as one of first units of its kind in America. UW Medicine continues to lead the field in genetic discoveries.

• 1960

  As a visiting professor, E. Donnall Thomas, M.D., performs a bone marrow transplant at University Hospital. In 1990, Dr. Thomas receives the Nobel Prize for his cell transplantation work.

• 1961

  Biochemist Dr. Hans Neurath becomes first UW School of Medicine faculty member elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

• 1967

  The Primary Care Physician Curricular Change Subcommittee files a report that initiates the medical school’s national leadership programs in educating generalist physicians.

• 1970

  The Commonwealth Fund of New York City grants nearly $1 million to secure the start of the four-state WAMI Program. (Wyoming joined in 1996.)

• 1972

  UW enters into partnership with Washington State University to educate 20 Washington medical students at WSU-Pullman.

• 1972

  Family Medicine Residency Network established by the UW Department of Family Medicine. By 2011 there are 18 Family Medicine Residency Programs across WAMI.

• 1978

  The WAMI Program becomes self-sustaining. Each state supports first-year medical courses, instruction for its students at UW and clinical teaching sites.

• 1981

  UW researchers, with University of California scientists, genetically engineer protein production, a technique used to develop the hepatitis B vaccine.

• 1985

  WAMI Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program are funded to train, recruit andretain health personnel for medically underserved areas.

• 1986

  UW Medical Center is among the first medical centers nationwide with a cyclotron, magnetic resonance imager, and PET [scanner] at one site.

• 1989

  Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program sends its first medical students to small towns to acquaint them with practice in physician shortage areas.

• 1990

  Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, professor of medicine at the UW and a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, receives Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for pioneering bone marrow transplants.

• 1994

  Student Providers Aspiring to Rural and Underserved Experiences (SPARX) providesinterdisciplinary educational experiences to encourage health professionals and students to practice in rural or urban underserved communities.

• 1997

  WWAMI Rural Telemedicine Network receives federal funding to explore the use oftelemedicine for rural communities. By 2000, more than 320 consultations have taken place within diverse specialties.

• 1998

  First medical students participate in WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience(WRITE) to obtain several months of clinical education in a small town: Libby, MT, Othello, WA, Hailey, ID and Sandpoint, ID.

• 2001

  Leland Hartwell shares the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of the key regulators of a cell cycle.

• 2004

  Linda Buck becomes just the seventh woman in history to receive Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; she shares prize for discoveries related to the olfactory system.

• 2006

  Feasibility study recommends initiation of a WWAMI first-year class in Spokane starting in 2008 to meet the need for more primary care physicians in Eastern Washington.

• 2010

  Greater Spokane Incorporated/Tripp Umbach issues a report endorsing an Academic Health Science Center in Spokane, anchored by a four-year WWAMI medical school expansion. The report cites an economic impact of $1.6 billion.

• 2011

  The UW School of Medicine WWAMI expansion plan for Spokane is released, with second-year med school expansion details. Second-year students begin arriving in 2013.

• 2012

  FDA approves UW-tested drug to treat genetic mechanism of cystic fibrosis, the first of its kind.

• 2015

  UW Spokane Center opens in the former Spokane Visitors Center building in the heart of the city’s university district. The Center serves as a hub for Spokane area alumni, students, and prospective students.

• 2016

  The University of Washington School of Medicine-Gonzaga University Health Partnership welcomes first class of medical students to be educated on the Gonzaga campus.