Partners in Medical Education A Report to the Community
Spring 2023 | Wenatchee, WA
Meet the Doctor Next Door Our UWSOM and GU graduates are working as medical and health professionals, advancing our vision to increase health and prosperity in communities throughout eastern Washington.
Meet Lexie Graham, MD Employer/roles: • Internal medicine primary care physician and Medical Director of Student and Resident Education “Integrating the Human
• Confluence Health, Wenatchee My Medical Education: Excellent
Physiology department into this
Stronger Together, So Are the Communities We Serve
Partnership allows us to contribute to the rapidly evolving
UW-GU Health Partnership’s Impact:
fields of health care, science and
“I truly believe that especially for medical
technology more than ever before.
Seven years after the UW School of Medicine
forming a
– Gonzaga University Health Partnership was
growing cluster
students to learn here.”
formed with a vision to transform the health,
of academic and
well-being, and prosperity of the region, it
research institutions in
Evan Nessen, GU Senior, Human Physiology
is living its mission every day — to promote
the Health Peninsula. Students
greater health through education, research,
from a variety of health science disciplines
and innovation, while preparing our region’s
create synergy for interdisciplinary education,
next generation of healthcare providers.
mirroring the working environment in
The combined strengths of each University,
healthcare.
and the synergy generated through a nexus
Through our partnership, a strong foundation
of students, faculty, healthcare and health
for scholarly research has been established.
sciences partners, creates a greater impact
Second-year medical school students address
than each partner could accomplish alone.
issues facing rural health through hands-on
UWSOM’s 50+-years of delivering top-ranked,
research projects and GU undergrads work
world-class medical
I am so grateful to be among the first
with GU and UWSOM faculty through the
education, combined
McKinstry Fellows Research Program to
Health Partnership will
with GU’s legacy
explore issues and barriers to health.
bring students and physicians
as an exemplary
alike to Wenatchee and make
learning
To help future physicians more easily step into
“The UWSOM-GU
for a healthier, happier
community
community.”
educating
Rory McFarland First-year medical student
students for lives of leadership and service, attracts, grows,
and keeps the next generation of healthcare professionals serving patients throughout eastern Washington. The new Health Partnership building is home to 120 UW medical students and used by more than 500 GU undergrads in nursing and health sciences. Thirty-plus UW MEDEX Northwest physician assistant students attend classes in the adjacent SIERR building,
students who want to go into primary care or rural care there is no better program than UWSOM in which to train. The opportunities we had to learn and
experience medicine in diverse locations and settings across the WWAMI region allowed for amazing breadth and depth of education, and often with more hands-on learning directly from attending physicians than what would be available in most other programs. It is so rewarding to be able to give back and precept the UWSOM third-year students who come to Wenatchee for their Internal Medicine clerkship. These students are bright, engaged, caring and hardworking – it is a joy to see them develop their clinical skills and to help them on their path to becoming our future doctors and colleagues.”
leadership roles, UWSOM and GU’s School of Leadership Studies have partnered to conduct a pathway that pairs leadership development with medical education, offering students leadership training, mentoring and practical applications.
“The UW-GU Health Partnership provides three key areas of tangible benefit to the community: Training the next generation of providers with a unique regional perspective,
Faculty and students in the Health Partnership are forming groups that facilitate targeted learning and social connections, such as a Pre-Med Forum, and Running Club. The UW School of Dentistry’s Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE), which trains dentists to meet the needs of rural and
thus improving access to care, providing research and encouraging innovation that will improve health outcomes and have a positive economic impact, and enhancing the appeal of the area as a life and health sciences destination.” Francisco R. Velázquez, M.D., S.M., F.C.A.P. Health Officer | Administration Spokane Regional Health District
underserved populations in the state and (continued on page 2)
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