Timothy H. Dellit, MD, CEO of UW Medicine and the Paul G. Ramsey Endowed Dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Elizabeth McNamara, MN ’08, RN, have established an endowed MD scholarship in recognition of the impact of the increasing cost of medical education and the importance of supporting future medical leaders who are dedicated to serving all members of our communities. 

The Rickey R. Dellit Endowed Scholarship is named after Dellit’s father, Rick, who was the son of a Methodist minister in rural Iowa. Rick knew at an early age that he was gay at a time when expression of his self-identity was not accepted. Growing up, Dellit visited his father in Philadelphia, where he developed a strong appreciation for the closeness of the gay community and an awareness of the discrimination and harm his father and others experienced. 

Dellit witnessed firsthand the devastating effect of HIV with the death of his father and most of his father’s friends while those communities most impacted by HIV were marginalized. Rick Dellit died in 1992, prior to the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy that potentially could have led to a different outcome. This experience had a profound impact on Dellit, shaping his interest in infectious diseases and the intersection between medicine and the communities we serve.  

McNamara, who received her master’s in nursing at the UW, worked at UW Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center for nearly three decades and is deeply committed to improving healthcare for the most vulnerable members of our community. She is recently retired from Northwest Kidney Centers, where she served as VP of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer.