UW Medical Students Begin Practicing in Wyoming |
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Sept. 7, 2007 -- When Dr. Susan Sheridan joined Casper Obstetrics and Gynecology in August, she became the 13th physician to begin practice in Wyoming after taking advantage of the WWAMI program.
The University of Wyoming takes part in WWAMI, a regional medical education program, affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM), in Seattle, Wash.
The program reserves up to 16 positions each year for qualified Wyoming residents. Wyoming students accepted in the program spend their first year on the UW campus and the second year at UWSOM. The third and fourth years are spent at selected clinical sites throughout the WWAMI region.
"Most state medical schools have reserved spots for their own students," Sheridan says, "It's difficult for out-of-state students to get in."
The WWAMI program also allows students to pay the equivalent of in-state tuition.
Sheridan knew she would return to Wyoming to practice medicine.
"I was pretty much committed to coming back," Sheridan says, "Because my family is here, I was raised here, my fiance is here, and I enjoy the people and the small-town atmosphere."
Sheridan joined a private practice in Casper, where she is practicing obstetrics and gynecology. Many women, she notes, prefer a female OB-GYN physician, and the state has few of them.
WWAMI takes its name from the first letters of the five states that take part in the cooperative program: Wyoming, Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
The new physicians, who began practicing this summer, listed by the communities they are in and their area of medicine are:
Buffalo -- Blaine Ruby, general surgery.
Casper -- Susan Sheridan, obstetrics and gynecology.
Cody -- Adam Peters, family medicine.
Douglas -- Deanne Engle, family medicine.
Gillette -- Dennis Ford, emergency medicine.
Sheridan -- Ian Hunter, internal medicine.
Torrington -- Breck Evans, family medicine.
WWAMI graduates already practicing in Wyoming are:
Casper -- Sharon Karnes, family medicine; Ty Stansill, internal medicine.
Jackson -- Will Smith emergency medicine.
Lander -- Tonya Blakemore pediatrics; Gentian Scheer, internal medicine.
Laramie -- Kathy DeHart, pediatrics.
Posted on Friday, September 07, 2007
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