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SPOKANE Medical education is booming in Spokane.

A new medical school by Washington State University plus a dramatic expansion of a modest medical training program operated by the University of Washington mean hundreds of future doctors will soon be training in the eastern Washington city.

Its the culmination of years of efforts by civic leaders to expand education offerings that have the potential to grow the economy.

The most high-profile development is Washington State Universitys creation of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, the nations newest med school.

Named for the late WSU president who pushed for its creation, the Floyd College received preliminary accreditation in October and has started accepting applications for its first class. The school plans to enroll 60 students per class, with the first class starting in August.

WSU President Kirk Schulz said the accreditation news puts us one step closer to educating physicians who will practice in Washingtons underserved communities and furthers the universitys land-grant mission to serve the needs of the state.

Getting less attention but just as significant, is the University of Washingtons decision to expand its medical training in Spokane.

The university has long operated the states only public medical school. For years, it placed about 20 medical students per year in Spokane as part of its WWAMI program that trains doctors for the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

But the University of Washington expanded that program last fall to 60 first-year students in Spokane.

Now the UW is asking the Legislature for more than $9 million, so it can train a total of 80 medical students per class in Spokane.

We have created something very special in Spokane for Spokane, said Mari Clack, of the Friends of WWAMI, a group of community leaders formed to support UW students in Spokane. This region needs more doctors to serve our aging population.

The UW School of Medicine partners with Gonzaga University to provide the training in the Lilac City.

The goal is to reduce the shortage of doctors, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Half the states doctors work in the Seattle region, while many parts of the state do not have enough physicians.

The first step toward addressing a physician shortage is to educate more medical students, and especially those students who are interested in practicing rural medicine, said Dr. Suzanne Allen, vice dean for Academic, Rural and Regional Affairs for UW.

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Medicine flourishing in Lilac City - The Columbian