Meet WWAMI Student Taylor Ellingsen

Patients at CCMG Pediatrics may be seeing a new face in their exam room for the next few weeks. Taylor Ellingsen is here for a six-week clerkship rotation in pediatrics as part of the WWAMI program though the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. Taylor is from Spokane, where she has already completed dental school. She will attend the University of Washington for two more years as part of an integrated MD program, graduating from medical school in 2024, and continuing her residency program for maxillofacial surgery until 2027.

Taylor had an interest in medicine from a young age, and has both doctors and dentists in her family. She decided to pursue dental surgery after a medical mission trip to Guatemala, and saw how patients with cleft palates could be helped through oral surgery.

WWAMI is an acronym for the five states that participate in the Medical School program: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho, and serves students from those states who don’t have their own medical schools. Each state participating in WWAMI partners with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) to educate a fixed number of medical students from and for their state. Part of the WWAMI program includes medical clerkship programs for third-year medical students in several specialty areas. Community-based clinical faculty volunteer their time to educate those medical students. Pediatrician Dr. Francesca McCaffrey is supervising Taylor’s clerkship experience at Campbell County Health.

“Having medical students train in our community is great,” says Dr. McCaffrey. “It allows us to cultivate the next generation of providers for rural communities like Gillette, while showcasing the medicine that we practice in our community.”