More than 30 years ago, UW Medicine launched a regional approach to medical education. This interstate collaboration now involves thousands of practicing physicians, hundreds of towns and cities, innumerable clinics and agencies, and five public universities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho -- the WWAMI states. The training of new physicians led to a number of other collaborative efforts to improve people’s health across the region. Today, UW Medicine continues its outreach to the region, and also to the world, with a variety of training, research and technical assistance programs. These programs help strengthen health care locally, regionally and internationally.