WWAMI Stories and Student Features

Read featured stories about UW School of Medicine students, staff and faculty from across Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI).

A group photo of the Montana TRUST cohort

Montana WWAMI TRUST Students Build Leadership Skills through Advocacy and Collaboration

Future rural physicians stepped beyond the classroom and into conversations about leadership, advocacy and community health during the Montana WWAMI TRUST Student Leadership Retreat, held June 24–27 in Bozeman. The annual retreat brought together second- and third-year TRUST students for several days of learning, mentorship and reflection as they prepare to serve rural and underserved […]

A headshot of Cindy Stergar

Building Montana’s Healthcare Workforce: Cindy Stergar Looks Back on a Career of Service

For more than two decades, Cindy Stergar has strengthened Montana’s healthcare system by helping to build the primary care workforce, expanding access to medical services and championing physician education. Now, after retiring as CEO of the Montana Primary Care Association, she leaves Montana with a stronger physician workforce and a lasting influence on the next […]

A headshot of Serena Brewer

Serena Brewer Brings Longtime Passion for Longitudinal Learning to WRITE Leadership

For Serena Brewer, D.O., becoming director of the WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience (WRITE) program is an opportunity to help expand the model of medical education she has experienced firsthand, both as a physician and as a longtime preceptor. Dr. Brewer, who also serves as a Montana WWAMI Assistant Clinical Dean, took over as WRITE […]

A headhsot of Megan Maerstellar

Returning Home to Care for Montana’s Kids: Dr. Megan Marstaeller Brings Rural Pediatrics to the Bitterroot Valley

For Dr. Megan Marstaeller (E19), returning home to Montana isn’t just the next step in her career. It’s the fulfillment of a goal that first took shape during her medical school training. After completing her pediatric residency this summer through the Pediatric Residency of Idaho (PRI), Dr. Marstaeller returned to Montana to begin practicing at […]

RUOP Visits and Triple I Experiences

University of Washington School of Medicine students are afforded the increasingly rare opportunity to have an experiential summer experience between the first and second year of medical school as part of their pre-clerkship experiences. For two months, Wyoming WWAMI students can engage in research, pursue a global health experience, or experience a clinical rotation in […]

Welcome to the E-26 Class!

Last month, Wyoming WWAMI welcomed our new E-26 class of first year students to Laramie! The new cohort officially began their medical education journey on Monday July 13th with orientation activities and events to get to know each other and meet faculty, staff, and leadership from both the University of Washington and the University of […]

Celebrating Our Outstanding Alumni Preceptors

Wyoming WWAMI is proud to celebrate our outstanding clinical educators who earned WRITE (WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience) – Excellence in Teaching Awards this year. Dr. Mattson Mathey, practicing in Thermopolis, WY and Dr. Clint McMahill, practicing in Fremont County, WY, were both honored with the award, which is based on nominations from students participating […]

A black and white photo featuring a WWAMI student

Half a World Away, Thinking of Montana

The landscape stopped Mikayla Bullman in her tracks  not because it was foreign, but because it wasn’t. Rolling grassland, wide sky, communities scattered far from the nearest hospital. “Rural Montana is not all that different,” she would later reflect. “The landscape even looks the same.” This summer, Bullman and fellow Montana WWAMI second-year Lucy Corbett […]

A Gonzaga Student’s Journey to the Simpson Lab: Michael Martin’s second summer at UW School of Medicine

Michael Martin grew up in the Seattle area with two things in mind: get to medical school, and get there by way of a smaller Jesuit college away from home. He found that at Gonzaga University, where he is pursuing a biochemistry degree. What he did not expect was how much the research itself would […]

An Idaho Homecoming: Dr. Roger Turcotte On Why He’d Choose Medicine Again 

For Roger Turcotte, MD, the path to medicine ran through Idaho and back again. An Idaho native set on returning home to practice primary care, he made WWAMI his first choice for medical school. “As an Idahoan, I was committed to coming back to Idaho and I was interested in primary care, so WWAMI was […]