UW Center for Excellence in Women’s Health Leads by Example

	Dr. Elaine Wong with a patient in the Women's Health Care Center at UW Medical Center - Roosevelt.

In 1995, the Office on Women’s Health in the United States Department of Health and Human Services designated a Center for Excellence in Women’s Health at the University of Washington. Today the Center, which partners the Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, is one of 14 Centers for Excellence in Women’s Health in the nation.

Each center, as a demonstration model for the rest of the nation, is tasked with providing comprehensive and innovative health care for women, especially in traditionally underserved communities, while also increasing women’s leadership in academic medicine.

Dr. Emily Wong, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, directs both the UW Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and the Women’s Health Care Center at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt.

“Academic medicine seemed right for me because I enjoy seeing patients as well as teaching in the clinic and on the wards,” said Wong. “I want to help other doctors.”

The Center’s teaching goes beyond medical students and residents. In March 2002 the UW Center sponsored a “Powerful Bones, Powerful Girls” campaign in South Seattle. A nurse discussed nutrition and exercise with a group of girls who ranged in age from 9 to 12. The girls also got information from the President’s Council on Sports and Fitness and ice cream donated by an area dairy farm.

As the only Center for Excellence in Women’s Health in the Pacific Northwest, the UW is positioned as a resource for women in the culturally and linguistically diverse region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.

In the clinic, about 10 percent of the patients are Asian, 5 percent Latina, and 5 percent African American. Developing a synergy between UW Medicine and the local community is part of the Center for Excellence mission.

Said Wong. “I see my role as helping new doctors understand issues specific to women’s health as well as the appropriate delivery of patient care, particularly in a culturally sensitive manner.”