Helping guide WSU’s community-based medical education are associate deans assigned to each of the regional hubs where students will spend their third and fourth years working alongside practicing physicians and others.
All are recognized innovators in medical education and were hired by WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine following a nationwide search.
They are Dr. Larry Schecter at WSU Everett, Dr. Kevin Murray at WSU Vancouver and Dr. Farion Williams at WSU Tri-Cities.
“These associate deans will teach, recruit faculty to teach, and further the college mission by building out clinical partnerships with the rural and underserved areas,” said Ken Roberts, vice dean of academic and community partnerships. “They also will provide vial community and physician connections to help establish a top-notch educational environment for our students.”
Schecter practiced general surgery in Santa Monica, California, for 30 years during which he took on multiple leadership positions including chairman of surgery at both St. John’s and Santa Monica hospitals, and chief medical officer of Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center and associate professor of surgery at the UCLA School of Medicine.
He and his family moved to the northwest in 2003 when he became chief medical officer of Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, a large tertiary regional referral center. Schecter then became chief medical officer of the Western Washington Region of Providence.
Murray is a family medicine physician who most recently served as a clinical professor at the University of Wyoming and as the director of medical education, the designated institutional official for the university as sponsor of Wyoming’s two family medicine residencies. He also was the CEO of the Educational Health Center of Wyoming.
Prior to these roles, Murray spent the entirety of his career in the state of Washington as a family physician in a variety of locations while also teaching residents and medical students in the clinical setting.
Williams comes from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford where he served as assistant dean for graduate medical education, designated institutional official for the accreditation council for graduate medical education, and professor of clinical family medicine and medical education.
Prior to that, Williams was the associate program director for Baylor College of Medicine’s Family Medicine Residency Program. He has also worked in a community practice in Dickinson, Texas.
Read more about the launch of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in our feature “Medicine to all corners.”