Jaynee Grange Groseth, Alumni Association director, with WWAMI alumns Tracy Johnson, Margo Kober and LeeAnna Irvine Muzquiz WWAMI Women Span Three Decades by Evelyn Boswell Three women, all natives of small Montana towns. Three graduates of MSU-Bozeman. Three doctors who graduated in different decades from the regional medical program known as WWAMI. Tracy Johannsen, Margo Kober and LeeAnna Irvine Muzquiz had all those things in common, but they gathered for the first time in July over a dinner organized by Jaynee Drange Groseth, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association. The dinner was held in Seattle where the three lived until Muzquiz moved to Montana two days later. "It was the opportunity to spend an evening with old friends, impressive women and assist in building networks and connections — the ultimate outcome of alumni work," Groseth commented. Tracy Johannsen, '78 Premed, entered the WWAMI program in 1978 and graduated from it in 1982. A native of Sunburst, she specializes in Ob Gyn and works at Northwest Women's Health Care in downtown Seattle. Margo Kober, '88 BioSci, entered the WWAMI program in 1988 and graduated in 1992. A native of Columbus, she specializes in internal medicine and works at Minor and James Medical Clinic in Seattle. LeeAnna Muzquiz, '94 Micro, is a native of Ronan. She entered the WWAMI program in 1996 and graduated in 2000. After working in Seattle, she returned to the Flathead Indian Reservation where is now a family physician for Tribal Health and Human Services. "It was really kind of interesting to sit there at dinner and look at the three generations of docs that hove now gone through the WWAMI program. It was kind of humbling to be the old one. It was really neat to see," Johannsen said a few hours after spending time another group of MSU alumni. She had just returned from Banff on here ninth annual trip with four of her best college friends. Groseth knew Johannsen, Kober and Muzquiz when they were students at MSU, and kept up with them even after they moved to Washington. WWAMI is run by the University of Washington School of Medicine, but it allows its students in the participating states to attend their first year of medical school in their home state. Montana's program is 30 years old and based at MSU-Bozeman. The women finished their final three years of medical school in Seattle. Johannsen and Kober actually knew each other as professionals and referred patients back and forth before realizing their shared background, Groseth said. Muzquiz had come across Johannsen during her training at Swedish Family Medicine-Province "They each have an outstanding story," Groseth said. "They are bright, have met challenges, used their MSU experience and are proud to say they are graduates." back