UW–Gonzaga Alliance Remakes Spokane Medical Training

The University of Washington and Gonzaga University say their Spokane health partnership has moved from startup to workforce pipeline, with a new 2026 report marking its 10th year. (gonzaga.edu) The partnership began in 2016 as a public-private alliance to expand medical education and research in Eastern Washington. UW and Gonzaga built the model around Spokane, where students train close to the communities the schools want them to serve. (gonzaga.edu) (uw.edu) At the center is UW School of Medicine’s Spokane program, which trains a 60-student cohort each year. Students complete the first 18 months of medical school — the foundations phase — in Spokane before moving into broader clinical training. (gonzaga.edu) (washington.edu) The schools say the point is retention as much as instruction. Washington faces shortages in primary care, especially in rural and underserved communities, and the Spokane campus is designed to steer more clinicians into those areas. (washington.edu) (gonzaga.edu) The 2026 report shows how the training mix has widened beyond physicians. It lists Spokane enrollment growth from 2016 to 2026 at UW from 100 to 120 physicians, 29 to 32 physician assistants, and 8 to 32 dentists in the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education program. (gonzaga.edu) On Gonzaga’s side, the report says nurse practitioner enrollment rose from 428 to 438 over the decade, while its Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program grew from 20 to 72 students. Gonzaga calls that program Washington’s only certified registered nurse anesthetist pipeline. (gonzaga.edu) The physical hub opened in 2022 at 840 E. Spokane Falls Blvd. UW says the 80,000-square-foot facility houses the medical school partnership, while an adjacent building supports the MEDEX Northwest physician assistant program. (washington.edu) (familymedicine.uw.edu) The schools also tie the project to a larger Spokane health corridor. A 2020 UW announcement described the combined footprint of the new building and adjacent SIERR building at about 145,000 square feet for education, research and private-sector health innovation. (uw.edu) The report argues the clearest metric is where graduates practice. It says nearly half of UW School of Medicine graduates pursue primary care, and Gonzaga says the dental program now has an 81% return rate to Washington’s rural and underserved communities after doubling capacity in 2025. (gonzaga.edu) That leaves Spokane with two overlapping stories at once: a city training more clinicians than it did a decade ago, and a region still trying to turn education capacity into long-term care access. UW and Gonzaga are betting the first part helps solve the second. (gonzaga.edu) (washington.edu)