Sandpoint medical student advances in WWAMI program

A second-year University of Idaho medical student from Sandpoint was among those being honored Dec. 14 as the future doctors in the WWAMI Medical Education Program transition to the clinical phase of their education.

The class of 40 students in Idaho’s medical school, a partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine, will be honored with white coats to mark their completion of the basic science curriculum and the beginning of intense study in clinic and hospital settings.

Brooke Williams of Sandpoint is among the WWAMI students who were honored in the Dec. 14 ceremony at 6 p.m. in Moscow.

Idaho is one of five states in the WWAMI program, which also includes students from Washington, Wyoming, Alaska and Montana. The students spend 18 months in a classroom-intensive foundations phase of the program, followed by clerkship rotations at hospitals in Idaho and the five-state WWAMI region.

The students began the foundations phase on U of I’s Moscow campus in August 2016. The students will next review concepts and take their first national board examinations before beginning clerkship rotations at hospitals around Idaho and the Northwest.

“We are very fortunate to have such a high-quality medical school experience in Idaho,” said Jeffrey Seegmiller, director of the Idaho WWAMI Medical Education Program. “The transition ceremony represents the successful completion of a very rigorous curriculum and these students and our state should be very proud of their accomplishment. There is nothing better than seeing a resident of Idaho accomplishing their dreams in a state-supported program – homegrown physicians for Idaho.”

Idaho WWAMI has 31 required clerkships in 11 communities across the state. Among those sites are hospitals in the Targeted Rural Underserved Track program, which partners with communities – including Sandpoint – that serve rural and underserved populations. More than half of Idaho WWAMI graduates return to Idaho after completing medical school. Idaho currently has 42 first-year residency positions.

Funding from the state of Idaho has supported medical training at U of I since 1971, with more than half of Idaho WWAMI graduates returning to Idaho after completing medical school. According to a 2016 study, the state sees a $5.10 return on investment for every dollar spent on the medical students.

The University of Idaho, home of the Vandals, is Idaho’s land-grant, national research university. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state of Idaho through educational centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Idaho Falls, a research and Extension center in Twin Falls, plus Extension offices in 42 counties.

Idaho’s WWAMI Medical Education Program is a partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine and the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Started in 1971, WWAMI is Idaho’s medical school, educating first and second-year medical students in Moscow and the Palouse at the University of Idaho. Then, during their third and fourth years, Idaho students complete clinical rotations throughout Idaho and the region.