WWAMI

The University of Idaho is a member of WWAMI, the University of Washington's School of Medicine's regional medical education program. WWAMI is an enduring partnership between the University of Washington School of Medicine and the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The WWAMI name is derived from the first letter of each of the five cooperating states. The WWAMI program's purpose is to provide access to publicly supported medical education across the five-state region. The UW School of Medicine maintains a regional Assistant Dean's Office in each of the five states with its partner universities (e.g., U-ldaho). These offices oversee university and clinical medical education for the School of Medicine within their regions, providing academic and support services for the local faculty and students participating in them. WWAMI focuses not only on medical students, but on pipeline activities and students in K-12, colleges, medical school graduates in residencies, and physicians in community practice.

Started in 1972, WWAMI is currently in its 41st year of successfully educating Idaho’s physicians. The WWAMI program is nationally accredited through its partnership with UW School of Medicine, and each year, forty medical students complete their first year of medical training here in the Palouse, with our combined program faculties from U-Idaho and WSU. The first year of medical school is heavily loaded with basic medical sciences (anatomy, histology, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, nervous systems, and behavioral medicine), as well as introductory clinical training and patient care (medical precepting) throughout both semesters. WWAMI shared faculty and staff at U-Idaho and WSU add up to 13 FTE (6.57 U-Idaho) and the program uses classrooms and labs on both campuses. Students and faculty divide their time between campuses each week.