HISTORY OF ALASKA WWAMI
Alaska was the first state to partner with the University of Washington School of Medicine in the collaborative medical school known as WWAMI. Classes began at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1971. Classes in Montana and Idaho were started in 1972. Wyoming became a partner, adding the second “W” to the acronym, in 1996. The purpose of WWAMI is to provide publicly funded medical education to residents of this five-state region, and to train physicians who will return to practice in their home states. Alaska's WWAMI Program has historically provided a very good return on the state's investment. On average, for every ten medical school seats funded by the State of Alaska, eight WWAMI-trained physicians have entered practice in the State. Alaska WWAMI has admitted students from virtually all parts of the state; slightly more than half of these students have been female. |
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| 92 FEMALE | 78 MALE | |
| Geographical distribution of home towns (red triangles) and gender distribution (bar at bottom) of Alaska WWAMI students from 1989 through 2005. |
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Development of Alaska WWAMI
The first Alaska ”WAMI” class in 1971 consisted of five Alaskan students and four students from Washington. They completed the first quarter of their medical education at UAF, and the remainder was completed at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Alaska WWAMI relocated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks to the University of Alaska Anchorage in 1989, where it currently resides. Through the years, Alaska WWAMI evolved to provide nearly three of the four years of medical school education in the State. Alaska's WWAMI students complete their first year of medical school in Alaska. Students from all five WWAMI states take second-year classes in Seattle. The third and fourth years are comprised of clinical clerkship rotations in the various medical specialty areas, each four to six weeks in length. These clerkships may be taken in any of the five WWAMI states. The Alaska Track provides Alaska WWAMI students with the ability to complete nearly all third- and fourth-year clerkships in Alaska.
Alaska WWAMI Pathway Programs
High School Summer Enrichment Programs: The UAA WWAMI Biomedical Program also works to prepare students to enter medical school. Alaska WWAMI sponsors two high school summer enrichment programs for disadvantaged and/or minority students: these are the Della Keats/U-DOC Summer Enrichment Program and the NIDDK Short-Term Education Program for Under-represented Persons (STEP-UP). These programs are designed to encourage students to pursue careers in medicine and other healthcare professions by providing clinical exposure and job shadowing experiences, basic science courses, and the opportunity to enhance communications, computer, and research skills. Students who participate in these programs also acquire a valuable introduction to college life as they live on the UAA campus for six weeks.
PreMed Summit: The UAA WWAMI Biomedical Program partners with the UAA Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship to present the Alaska PreMed Summit. The Alaska PreMed Summit, which was first held in April 2006, is intended to provide high school and undergraduate students with the information and resources they need to pursue careers in medicine. High school counselors, college advisors, and parents are also invited to learn about the process of becoming a physician. The annual Alaska PreMed Summit continues to empower Alaskan students to step onto the medical education pathway.