WSU Tri-Cities may host medical students next year

WSU medical students may be a part of the Tri-Cities campus as early as next year.

University President Kirk Schulz and College of Medicine Dean Dr. John Tomkowiak met with a group of about 40 faculty, students and staff to discuss the school’s preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.

The university is going to start recruiting its first class of students next week, Tomkowiak said. When they are accepted, the students will be be linked to one of four campuses — Tri-Cities, Everett, Spokane and Vancouver.

They will spend the bulk of their first two years at the Spokane campus, but students are going to train at the campus they’re linked to for six weeks, Tomkowiak said.

“(They’re) going to begin to learn what it’s all about,” he said. “Not only the practice of health care, but what the community is like.”

As the students move forward in their careers, the college will send them to the other campuses, so they can learn at area hospitals.

“It’s so awesome to have three campuses outside of Spokane where our students are going to live and train, how to be future physicians,” Tomkowiak said.

The students who choose to spend their last two years studying medicine in the Tri-Cities will learn about the medical challenges faced by the community, he said.

Kadlec Regional Medical Center is partnering with the university to teach third- and fourth-year students.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 7:41 PM with the headline "WSU Tri-Cities may host medical students next year."