Alumni Spotlight

UW School of Medicine Student Earns Washington State Medical Association Award

Fourth-year medical student in Spokane Vera Schulte received the WSMA Early Career Member of the Year Award.

Clerkships and Community in Central Washington

Partnerships in Wenatchee provide learning opportunities for School of Medicine students.

Hard Act to Follow: Cheryl Adkinson, MD ’79, on a Career that Spans the Globe

From WWAMI to around the world, one alumna discovers her education prepared her in surprising ways.

Lessons from a Pandemic

How the UW School of Medicine and its students are adapting and learning from an unprecedented time.

He Speaks Their Language

A second-year student connects with underserved communities through a summer rural studies program.

Alliance for Equal Representation in Medicine Helps Demystify the Medical School Interview Process

The student-led group stages mock interviews and offers mentorship for underrepresented medical school applicants.

From Epidemiologist to Podcast Host: Celine Gounder, MD ’04, ScM, FIDSA

Medical journalist uses her passion for science and storytelling to tackle health disparities.

Sometimes the best medicine begins with a well-told story. Medical journalist Celine Gounder, MD ’04, has covered the Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus, the coronavirus pandemic, and the opioid overdose and gun violence epidemics in print and on television. Now, Gounder hosts and produces the podcast American Diagnosis, on health and social justice, and the podcast Epidemic, offering in-depth coverage of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) outbreak.

Coming Home

A rural pathologist is building a group home for his son — and other adults with autism.

Clay was 11 years old the first time he went to a psychiatric hospital.

“We had to call an ambulance to take him out of our house,” says his father, Zachary Weber, MD ’06. “He was thrashing and kicking and breaking doors.”

Although they love their son dearly, Weber and his wife, Mindy, knew that sending him away was necessary — partially to protect their younger son, Wesley. “Clay was starting to throw things at us and hit us,” Weber says.

Many Generations

One of our first WWAMI students speaks to the power of relationships in rural family medicine.

Around the turn of the last century, Louise Renkin took a forested wagon trail from downtown Seattle to get to her classes on the University of Washington campus. She was earning a degree in English, and she was also a bit of a pioneer, remembers her grandson, Richard (Dick) McLandress, MD ’74. Renkin joined the first-ever women’s Husky rowing club in 1905. Later, she became a teacher at Wenatchee High School.

Outside Her Comfort Zone

Physical therapy alumna and Paralympic medalist Megan Fisher loves a challenge.

“I'm very good at being uncomfortable,” says Megan Fisher, DPT ’14. For instance, last June, Fisher bicycled over 200 miles in blistering heat, and she recently climbed Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest active volcanoes.

She has done all this without the lower half of her left leg. “There is this saying: Two legs, too easy,” Fisher says.