The University of Washington School of Medicine is the medical school of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, a public research university in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Graduate School rankings, University of Washington School of Medicine ranked #1 in the nation for primary care education, and #7 for research. The University of Washington School of Medicine is the first public medical school in the states of

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. The school maintains a network of teaching facilities in more than 100 towns and cities across the five-state region. As part of this "WWAMI" partnership, medical students from Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho spend their first year and a half at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming, United States. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, ...

, the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna C ...

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

, or the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

, respectively. In addition, sixty students in each class are based at

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. Preference is given to residents of the WWAMI states.

UW Medicine

The University of Washington Medicine includes the University of Washington School of Medicine, as well as a number of clinical facilities owned and operated by the UW, including the following: *

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is owned by King County and managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disast ...

— Seattle *

University of Washington Medical Center The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) is a hospital in the University District of Seattle, Washington. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine and is located in the Wa ...

— Seattle *

Northwest Hospital & Medical Center The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

— Seattle *University of Washington Medicine Neighborhood Clinics — nine primary care facilities *University of Washington School of Medicine *University of Washington Physicians — a physician practice *

Airlift Northwest Airlift Northwest, a program of the University of Washington School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center, provides flight transport via helicopter and fixed wing aircraft for patients needing intensive medical care in Washington, Idaho, Mo ...

— a medical transport system for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho In addition, the University of Washington Medicine shares in the ownership and governance of Children’s University Medical Group and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a partnership between the University of Washington Medicine,

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. History ...

, and

Seattle Children's Seattle Children's (previously Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center; previously Children's Orthopedic Hospital) is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The hospital specializes ...

History

The school was founded in 1946 as the 76th medical school in the country and is a leader in primary care, family medicine, biomedical research, experimental therapy, clinical treatments, and academic medicine. In July 1999, a group of students and faculty from the school were involved in a bus-train collision on their way back from a study abroad program in

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

. There were multiple injuries and one fatality, Michele Tracy, a first-year medical student from Middleton. UW Medicine created an award for community service in her honor. They also maintain a student-run Michele Tracy Clinic, which offers free health services to underserved populations in the Madison area. In May 2013, it was announced that UW Medicine and

PeaceHealth PeaceHealth is a not-for-profit health care system that owns and operates ten hospitals and numerous clinics in the U.S. states of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. The organization is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, and was founded by the ...

were coming together in a "strategic affiliation." In 2023, the University of Washington School of Medicine announced that it, along with other medical schools such as Harvard Medical School, the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford Medical School, would no longer contribute data to the U.S. News & World Report for medical school rankings. In November 2023, Tim Dellit was named CEO of UW Medicine. On May 9, 2025, the United States'

Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...

(DOGE) announced the termination of over $23.84 million in contracts between the U.S. federal government and the University of Washington School of Medicine, which were designed to fund research on the impacts of

sexually transmitted infection A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, e ...

s. These contracts were terminated by an unknown employee of DOGE, who worked under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"HHSAHAYNES".

WWAMI

WWAMI is an acronym for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho. The WWAMI program is a collection of states and universities that have agreed to a collaboration of facilities, people, and funding to enhance the region's access to education. The University of Washington WWAMI program is set in six cities across the five-state region; the institutional partners and class size of each campus is listed below. Each campus is supported both by the University of Washington and the partner institution. During the clinical phase of the curriculum, years three and four, clinical sites are found within all five WWAMI states and students from each campus have the opportunity to rotate throughout the region.

Notable alumni

Benjamin Danielson Benjamin Danielson is a pediatrician and clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Throughout his time as a pediatrician, Danielson has facilitated the creation and development of diversity programs and ...

Maxine Dexter Maxine Elizabeth Dexter (née Johnson, born December 5, 1972) is an American physician and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 3rd congressional district since 2025. The district includes most of Portland east of the Wil ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

* Diana L. Farmer, Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor of Surgery and chair of the Department of Surgery at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

and surgeon-in-chief of UC Davis Children's Hospital * Brian S. Kim, Sol and Clara Kest Professor, Vice Chair of Research, and Site Chair of

Mount Sinai West Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fa ...

and Morningside in the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City, New York, United States. The school is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sina ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Medicine, University of

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...