WWAMI ranks No. 1

The WWAMI medical school partnership has again been ranked first among primary care medical schools in the country, according to annual rankings of graduate and professional schools provided by U.S. News and World Report. Alaska, through the University of Alaska Anchorage, is one of five states involved in this unique, collaborative medical school that is administratively centered at the University of Washington in Seattle.

For the 16th consecutive year, the teaching programs in family medicine and in rural health also ranked No. 1. The school ranked fourth in teaching medical students about AIDS, sixth in internal medicine, seventh in geriatrics (health care for the elderly), eighth in pediatrics, and 10th in women's health and in drug/alcohol abuse training.  It is the only program in the nation ranked in the top 10 for all eight specialties included in the rankings.  [WWAMI is listed as University of Washington in U.S. News & World Report rankings.]

WWAMI, an acronym for the participating states, serves as a medical school for the states of Wyoming, Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The school has teaching sites for medical students in more than 100 towns and cities across the five-state region. Five state universities, and more than 4,500 volunteer physicians and other clinicians in the region, join in educating and training WWAMI medical students.  Alaskans can complete 3 of the 4 years of medical school in Alaska through WWAMI.

"Alaska's medical students have a tremendous opportunity in the WWAMI program.  WWAMI is a true collaboration, involving faculty at six universities in five states who work together to devise, plan and deliver top quality medical education. They function as a unit to execute the innovative curriculum that leads to WWAMI's outstanding reputation in teaching primary care, family medicine, rural health and other specialties that are so much in demand in the region," said Dr. Dennis P. Valenzeno, Director of Alaska WWAMI at the University of Alaska Anchorage and Assistant Dean at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Like other medical schools across the nation, WWAMI is facing the challenge of declining student interest in primary care.  Anchorage hosted discussions on this challenge on March 31 at Alaska's 2nd Annual PreMed Summit attended by 175 participants interested in careers as physicians, an event hosted at UAA and attended via interactive video at UAF and UAS.  About 35 percent of the people in the WWAMI region reside in rural areas. WWAMI is looking at a number of new approaches to encourage more medical students to enter primary-care training.

"Since 1971, Alaska has been fortunate to have a very productive relationship with one of the best medical schools in the country. The long-standing interest, support, and excellence in primary care has served us well," says Dr. Tom Nighswander, prominent Anchorage physician who is the Clinical Coordinator for WWAMI in Alaska and Assistant Dean at the University of Washington School of Medicine. "And, thanks to the support of the Alaska Legislature and Governor Palin, Alaska WWAMI will increase its entering class to 20 medical students per year starting this fall."