Pediatric training units mark 25th anniversary in Pocatello, Idaho, and Great Falls, Mont.

At the Pocatello Children’s Clinic in the mid-1970s, medical student Ben Call examined a 2-month-old baby. Photo by Tom Shanahan.

The School of Medicine pediatric training units in Great Falls, Mont., and Pocatello, Idaho, were honored in January for more than a quarter century of teaching UW medical students and pediatric residents about children’s health care.

The Great Falls and Pocatello pediatric sites are part of the UW School of Medicine’s regionalized medical education program, known as WWAMI, an acronym for the participating states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The program allows medical students and residents to train in communities away from an urban university medical center and encourages these future physicians to consider practices in mid-size or small towns.

Great Falls and Pocatello were the first pediatric training sites for the WWAMI Program. Pediatricians and other health professionals in both cities teach the required third-year clerkship (clinical training course) in pediatrics as well as elective courses for fourth-year medical students seeking more experience in pediatrics. The Pocatello site also trains residents—recent M.D. graduates who plan to practice pediatrics.

Pediatrician Dr. Roger W. Boe is the founder of the Pocatello pediatric training site for the UW School of Medicine, and was the first coordinator of the Pocatello pediatric clerkship. Eight Pocatello pediatricians serve on the clinical faculty for the clerkship, and the coordinator position is rotated among them. The current coordinator is Dr. Lloyd Jensen.

Pediatrician Dr. John Curtis was the first coordinator of the Great Falls pediatric training site, which is now under the direction of pediatrician Dr. Nora C. Gerrity. More than 10 Great Falls pediatricians are on the clinical faculty for the clerkship.

“The community pediatric medical education provided in Pocatello and Great Falls has been a model for development of similar programs elsewhere in the country,” said Dr. Thomas W. Pendergrass, professor of pediatrics and associate chair for educational affairs in the UW Department of Pediatrics. “The leadership and commitment of the Great Falls and Pocatello pediatricians over the past 25 years have been extraordinary. Their legacy is the critical and formative training of more than 450 medical students and 150 pediatric residents. Each has become a better physician through interaction with faculty in Pocatello and Great Falls.”

Pendergrass and Pediatrics Department Chair Bruder Stapleton visited Great Falls and Pocatello Jan. 11 and 12, respectively, for presentations recognizing the contributions of the clinical faculty to the education of new physicians. ¶

Leila Gray