On June 6th, Dean Robert Golden of UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) visited Aurora Baycare Sports Medicine Center with a team from UW-Madison including Director of State Relations Crystal Potts. During the visit Sen. Dave Hansen, Rep. John Nygren, Rep. David Steffen, Rep. Gary Tauchen, Rep. Eric Genrich, and Rep. Joel Kitchens were able to hear more about UWSMPH’s partnerships in Northeast Wisconsin. These programs include the Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM), the Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board, and the Wisconsin Partnership Program.
All three programs address critical health needs in our state. The WARM program helps address physician shortages in rural Wisconsin by admitting and training students who intend to practice rural medicine. Students in this program do part of their medical training in rural hospitals and clinics. The Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board is a free service for oncologists around the state to help them guide cancer patients to the best possible treatment options available. The Wisconsin Partnership Program provides grants to initiatives around the state to improve the health of Wisconsin residents.
Dr. Jasmine Wiley, a WARM grad pictured here with UWSMPH Dean Golden, attended the event at Aurora Baycare Sports Medicine Center to talk about how important the WARM program was to her career. After training in rural areas through the WARM program at UWSMPH, she is now a practicing physician in Shawano.
State representatives from the Green Bay area and Aurora Baycare medical professionals listen to UWSMPH Dean Golden talk about the nearby clinical sites including Green Bay, Two Rivers and Sturgeon Bay where UW-Madison students train during their medical school education.
Map shows the many areas of Wisconsin with a physician shortage. Sixty of Wisconsin 72 counties are designated as totally or partially underserved. The shortage of rural physicians is projected to increase as current rural physicians retire and the population ages, creating a need for more physicians. UWSMPH’s is helping address those needs with the WARM program that trains medical students to practice in rural areas. 91 percent of WARM graduates practice in Wisconsin after graduation.