OGDEN, Utah, Oct. 14, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Intermountain Healthcare and Weber State University have announced a $1 million donation from IHC to the university.
The funding is vital to increasing the number of students accepted into current medical programs and building the foundation for future programs, according to a WSU press release, such as the emerging physician assistant program.
Weber State truly benefits from having such a strong partnership with IHC and its Ogden facility, McKay-Dee Hospital, Yasmen Simonian, dean of the Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professions at WSU, said in the Thursday statement. “They’ve helped us secure the best equipment and space, which allows us to provide hands-on education to our students so they’re confident and ready to join the healthcare workforce when they graduate.”
“They’ve always been able to count on our support,” IHC spokesman Brad Gillman said Friday. The gift, he told Gephardt Daily, represents a “continuous contribution” that will be repeated in 2023 and likely beyond.
The 2022 donation includes an increase of $250,000 over last year’s donation, Gillman said, earmarked for the school’s physician assistant program.
Weber State will launch its physician assistant program next year, pending receiving approval from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.
The program will train 20 future physician assistants per session, and the first cohort of students will begin their studies in January 2023.
The physician assistant program will add its second cohort of students in 2024 with an annual enrollment of 40 students. Intermountain’s contribution will help build the program, to be located in Weber State’s Ezekiel R. Dumke Jr. & Katherine W. Dumke Center for Interprofessional Education in Healthcare building.
In addition, Intermountain has funded Weber State’s “Diversity in Healthcare” scholarships. Gillman said the scholarship funding has been a big part of IHC’s ongoing donation program to the school begun three years ago.
“Weber State University has been a stalwart for education, improving the community and helping to provide the next generation of healthcare providers. We are proud to assist them in their work,” said Judy Williamson, registered nurse and administrator at McKay-Dee Hospital.
