Suzanne Allen

I write to nominate Dr. Suzanne Allen for the David Thorud Leadership Award. Dr. Allen is Senior Vice Dean for Academic, Rural and Regional Affairs for the UW School of Medicine. She is also a Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and has continued to practice aa a family physician throughout her academic career.

I had the privilege to know and work with David Thorud for more than 30 years and had the opportunity to observe directly his extraordinary leadership skills, including his ability to find practical solutions for complex problems while championing equity in working and learning environments, his focus on teamwork, and his superb listening skills. I believe strongly that Dr. Suzanne Allen has consistently demonstrated the best of David Thorud’s qualities in her challenging leadership role. She is the best candidate for this prestigious award with whom I ever worked in my 44 years at the University of Washington.

Dr. Allen is responsible for the largest and most diverse medical education program in our country. The University of Washington serves as the accredited medical school for the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI Program). This unique program covers about one third of the United States land mass and receives appropriated legislative support from each of the five states. Classroom based medical education is based at partner universities as well as in Seattle, and clinical training is conducted at hundreds of community sites, including the best urban hospitals in our region and tiny community clinics in remote rural areas. The attached map shows the enormous scope of Dr. Allen’s leadership responsibilities. Please note that the map shows many regional/rural healthcare programs in addition to the learning programs.

Dr. Allen’s commitment to excellence in learning and support for rural communities is exemplary. She works with students, faculty and staff based in five states, and she has responsibility for the University of Washington relationships with partner universities, governors and state legislatures, and hundreds of local community leaders. I believe that her administrative responsibilities are perhaps more challenging than any other leader at our university.

For more than 15 years, Dr. Allen has demonstrated extraordinary leadership with her complex responsibilities. Like David Thorud, her success is due to teamwork, outstanding listening skills, integrity, innovation, humility, and commitment to equity in the working (rural health) and health professional learning environment (in the classroom and diverse clinical settings). Also like David Thorud, Dr. Allen defers credit to others for many innovative achievements. For example, when Washington State University chose to leave the WWAMI Program, Dr. Allen identified Gonzaga University as an excellent new medical education partner. She worked tirelessly and quietly with university leaders, community members and politicians to design and implement the now extremely successful UW/Gonzaga partnership in medical education. This is only one example of innovative new programs that were established with Dr. Allen’s extraordinary and selfless leadership.

David Thorud was appropriately recognized for high quality work that set examples for others. Dr. Allen’s work is exceptionally high quality and is reviewed repeatedly by external organizations. In addition to the normal education accreditation reviews, Dr. Allen’s work is reviewed by faculty at partner universities, community organizations, and legislative bodies that approve renewal of funding. Most importantly, perhaps, feedback from students is used for a continuous improvement approach for the medical education program. This student feedback is extremely important to ensure the highest quality learning experiences at the diverse sites across such a large geographic area.

The WWAMI Program under Dr. Allen’s leadership has received many awards over the years. In addition to recognizing the quality of the learning experience, the awards emphasize the value of diverse settings and perspectives. The fact that Dr. Allen shows genuine respect for the well-being of all people associated with WWAMI is one of the reasons for the high quality of the program.

Under Dr. Allen’s leadership, the WWAMI Program is a model for developing new ideas and partnerships that create access to rural healthcare. The mission of UW Medicine is to improve the health of the public, and one of the many challenging aspects of this mission is providing access to care in remote, rural settings. Dr. Allen has devoted her career to advancing access to healthcare learning and access to care in our region’s most underserved areas.

I had the pleasure of working closely with both David Thorud and Suzanne Allen. I believe that the David Thorud Leadership Award accurately reflects his extraordinary leadership skills and recognizes his exemplary personal qualities. Suzanne Allen has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in one of the most complex roles in any university. In addition, her intelligence, integrity, humility, practical problem-solving ability, and commitment to service set an example for me and for the many others who have the privilege of working with her.

Sincerely,
Paul G. Ramsey