Today at EHF's board meeting, I was asked "What is keeping me up at night."  And one of those key issues is:  What is the role of the foundation for the 4 year medical school (WWAMI-Spokane)?  How can we best play an added value role for maximum impact?"

To date, EHF has invested time and seed grant funds in several key areas directly affecting the medical school effort:

*  Invested time building relationships with the Spokane Medical School Steering Committee (catalyzed by WSU leadership & GSI), participating as a member of the steering committee, agreeing to chair one of the subcommittees.

*  Providing a seed grant to fund the development of a Business Plan by Tripp Umbaugh consulting (the firm was also engaged to analyze the Economic Impact Study), with action plans for moving the effort forward

*  Building relationships with UW School of Medicine, to better understand their strategic direction and vision and how best to align other stakeholders.

*  Building relationships with other private philanthropists and funders to align their efforts and donations.

*  Partnering with HSSA to design a strategic investment plan that will guide how to invest at least $12 million over the next 10 years, in order to grow NIH funding in the region from ~$11 million today to a targeted $70 million by 2030.

*  Seed funded a collaboration with expert consultant to best position the region to add GME residency slots via the Teaching Health Centers federal grant opportunity.

Now thanks to the legislature's approval of initial funds for adding a significant new health sciences building to the Riverpoint campus, the dialogue with UWSOM has turned to figuring out how to align all of the supporters and stakeholders to co-invest on accelerating the introduction of the 2nd year medical school faculty and student class.  It's an exciting time, and we are continuing to think very carefully how best to play a value-added role and maximize impact for our region.