The 2025-26 school year kicked off in July, and your Alumni Association is pleased to share an update from the UW School of Medicine and the Association. Originally created as a report to the Washington State Medical Association, this update highlights the medical student program specifically, including the incoming class, matching success, growing training programs, alumni news and more.

Strong Match Rates and Large Incoming Class

For the 2025 incoming class, 5,275 applications were received and 280 first-year first-time matriculant positions were filled. Among all entering students, 58% identified as female, 40% as male and 1.8% as genderqueer or other. Nearly 23% of students are from a rural county and 18.6% are first generation college students. See the graphic here for more details about the incoming class:

Our medical students had another successful match for residency positions. Among the 250 graduates who applied to residency, 243 matched, including 42% who matched into primary care specialties. Thirty-eight percent of students will remain in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region. In 2025, 14 seniors were initially either fully or partially unmatched in the residency process, with 11 ultimately securing a residency position and one expanding their medical school training.

For students who go unmatched, the School provides individualized advising and a robust system of resources and referrals. Each unmatched student meets with the assistant dean of student development and their student affairs career advisor to review their residency application for areas of improvement, to discuss well-matched career options for reapplying and to connect with resources and professional referrals. This may include identifying research opportunities, additional clinical rotations and away rotations, and referrals to physicians in the field to help students continue to build their professional network.

Growing Accreditation and Expanded Training Programs

This year, GME is celebrating its largest incoming class ever, with more than 525 new residents and fellows.

The School was the sponsoring institution for 128 residency and fellowship programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and over 86 non-ACGME accredited clinical fellowship programs. The GME Office also operationally supports four dental residency programs accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

Over 1,550 residents and fellows participate each year in training programs.

Internal medicine is the school’s largest residency program, with 171 filled positions in the 2024-25 academic year, followed by:

• pediatrics (131)
• anesthesiology (109)
• psychiatry (81)
• general surgery (55)
• emergency medicine (60)
• diagnostic radiology (39) and
• orthopedic surgery (40).

The School received approval for accreditation of the following programs during the 2024-25 academic year: internal medicine/medical genetics and genomics, and medical genetics and genomics/pediatrics, effective July 1, 2025.

All our ACGME-accredited residency and fellowship training programs are accredited (including six in initial accreditation status).

As the sponsoring institution, UW Medicine holds Continued Accreditation status. This favorable status reflects the strong leadership, oversight and administration of residency and fellowship education at the School, at primary training sites in Seattle and training sites throughout the WWAMI region.

The WWAMI Family Medicine Residency Network, overseen by the School, consists of 32 affiliated core residency programs and 10 rural training tracks/programs located within the WWAMI region, including 27 training locations in Washington. The network is approved to train over 800 family medicine residents; many who stay in the WWAMI region to practice after completing training.

UW Medical Center – Montlake, UW Medical Center – Northwest, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System are the primary training sites in Seattle for our residents and fellows. The School of Medicine also maintains close affiliations with over 300 community-based training sites in Seattle and the surrounding area, as well as with many inpatient and outpatient settings for a growing number of specialties throughout the WWAMI region.

The School partners with hospitals throughout the region to provide exemplary training experiences across a range of diverse settings and patient populations. Expanding training opportunities and building new GME programs throughout the region are critical to meeting the region’s growing healthcare needs. Because trainees often choose to stay at their residency site to practice, providing training opportunities in communities with physician shortages is one of the best ways to recruit physicians to the area.

Our residency programs did exceptionally well filling positions in the 2025 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match. Of the 303 positions offered, 292 (96.4%) were filled in the match, with another 10 positions filled during the NRMP Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program. Fifty-six positions offered in the Match were filled by UW School of Medicine students.

Challenging Policy Changes and Budget Outlook

UW Medicine works closely with the Washington State Medical Association on issues related to state policy.

Policy passed in the 2025 session includes:

Exceptional Alumni and Connecting with the School

Every year, the UW School of Medicine Alumni Association recognizes exceptional alumni with a series of awards. The 2025 Awards went to five impressive alumni – watch videos of all the winners.

This year’s Reunion Weekend at The Lodge at St. Edward Park was a big success. We celebrated our 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards recipients, and listened to a fascinating conversation between Tim Dellit, MD, Fel. ’03, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the UW School of Medicine, and Nora Disis, MD, Fel. ’87, about the groundbreaking work at the UW Medicine Cancer Vaccine Institute. We also learned about the changing landscape of medical education and future plans for the School, went on local excursions and enjoyed a 1920s-themed celebration.