UW Medicine

Airlift Northwest recently had the honor of showcasing aircraft, clinical education training spaces and the communication dispatch center to three of Senator Patty Murray's staff. A special shoutout to the all-female flight crew and the three amazing women from the Senate team who joined us for this inspiring visit. Here’s to the power of collaboration in elevating healthcare and making strides for our community! #SavingLivesTogether 📸 🔁 Airlift Northwest

Congratulations to Sofia Landi from UW Physiology and Biophysics, who will receive a Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Global Brain Independence Award for early career scientists. Her research in neural dynamics is on the circuits underlying the interplay between memory & perception. She is interested in how strong social memories that last a lifetime are formed.

UW Medicine has been listed by Forbes as one of America’s Best-In-State Employers 2024! Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey more than 160,000 employees working for companies with at least 500 people within the United States. Survey participants were asked how likely they were to recommend their employer on a scale of zero to 10.

Congratulations to all the UW Medicine faculty members at the University of Washington that have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences! This selection recognizes “outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.”

The University of Washington School of Dentistry and the University of Washington - School of Medicine are pleased to announce a new collaborative initiative. 

Dr. Michael Copass, a legend within Harborview Medical Center's emergency department, has died at 86. He was a pioneer in the field of emergency medicine. Dr. Copass is well-known for founding the region’s first air medical transport service, Airlift Northwest after he tried coordinating trips to get victims of a fire in Sitka, Alaska to Harborview, which was the nearest burn center. Since then, Airlift Northwest has flown more than 100,000 patients, currently transporting about 4,000 patients a year. While Dr. Copass was running the Harborview emergency department, Airlift Northwest and his neurology clinic, he also held the title of the Fire Department’s medical director. He stepped down from his position as director of Harborview’s emergency department in 2008 and continued to see patients at his neurology clinic until 2013. Read more about Dr. Copass, a pioneer in emergency medicine and his extraordinary career in The Seattle Times.

Last week, The Memory Hub held their first ever dementia-friendly nature photography workshop at Maude's Garden. The workshop was generously led by Dr. Thomas Grabowski, UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center Director. He said that nature photography is about capturing "the genius of the day." That is exactly what happened among this supportive community of nature-lovers. During the interactive experience, participants learned to pause and notice the details of nature that are calling for our attention, and this activity helped to "preserve what we know is only here, in this exact form, today", as Genevieve Wanucha, project lead of Maude's Garden says. You can see some of the photographs taken by participants and workshop organizers at the 'Garden of Inspiration' art show on August 23, from 10am - 4:30pm at The Memory Hub, held with support from Era Living: 1021 Columbia St. in Seattle.

The University of Washington Medical Center has been honored in Becker's Healthcare "Great hospitals in America" list for 2024! Hospitals on this list are widely recognized for their clinical excellence, commitment to patient safety, innovative initiatives, research efforts, education and high levels of patient satisfaction.

Growing up in Butte, Montana, first-generation college student Jamie Ritter was inspired to become a rural medicine doctor after seeing firsthand the impact that medical professionals have in her community. "The population of Butte is 35,000, but everyone seems to know each other. The doctors are not only providing care but are also active in the community," she says. Jamie's grandmother was a crucial part of her journey towards medicine. Not only in her unwavering support and encouragement, but also through her diagnosis and the realities of her end stage congestive heart failure. "My Gram’s heart disease may have made me more interested in the human body and was the inspiration for many of my inquisitive questions in middle school, but it was her constant support and devotion to sharing her wisdom with me in her final years that had the lasting impact," Jamie says. She eventually chose the University of Washington - School of Medicine because it offers a rigorous medical education that would provide her with a top-tier, hands-on training experience in rural medicine. "Being part of WWAMI Montana was such a unique experience. I was a member of a small class of 30 students for my first two years of medical school, learning and training with classmates throughout Montana. Being taught by professors who are involved in their community helped reinforce my commitment to serving rural populations." She is now in her third year, and has begun clinical training with a family medicine rotation in Bozeman, Montana and will then continue on to Wasilla, Alaska, for pediatrics and OBGYN rotations, followed by radiology and internal medicine at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and Providence in Everett, Washington. 🔁 University of Washington - School of Medicine

When something goes wrong in the brain — like a tumor, Alzheimer’s disease or a stroke — the impact can be not only devastating for patients and their families, but incredibly challenging to treat. Luckily, UW Medicine’s Neurosciences Institute (NSI) provides exceptional care and conducts groundbreaking research to better understand and treat complex neurological issues. Home to one of the largest and most experienced groups of neurologists and neurosurgeons in the Pacific Northwest, the NSI can treat more than 500 brain, spine and nervous system disorders! “We worked to bring together neurology and neurological surgery, and fostered deep partnerships with psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine — all the neuroscience-oriented departments — to tackle the most complex challenges for our patients," says Dr. Richard G. Ellenbogen, chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery. "And we’ve become a wonderfully collegial and successful team recognized for our ability to care for patients with these complex conditions." Donor support and volunteer engagement have helped make the NSI what it is today. Learn more about the Neurosciences Institute and how to support their mission of unlocking the secrets of the brain here.