For longtime Spokane couple Nelson Roger Cooke, MD, and Judy Cooke, ARNP, the passion to ensure everyone has access to quality health care did not end when they hung up their stethoscopes. While the neurologist and registered nurse are no longer treating patients themselves, they are dedicated to training more doctors to serve in Washington, especially in rural areas. They’re doing so by investing in the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.
To help fill a critical need in some of the most medically underserved communities in the state, the Cookes established the N. Roger and Judy Cooke Endowment Fund to help support Native American medical students enrolled at the College of Medicine.
“Tribal members prefer to see other Native American doctors, but they are a small percentage of American doctors,” said Dr. Cooke. “That motivated me to set up this scholarship fund, to help put more young Native Americans into the medical profession. I hope to see them practice in their home communities when they finish their training.”
According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, only 0.3% of doctors across the country identify as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) as of 2019. AI/AN people have a disproportionate disease burden and have a life expectancy that is 5.5 years less than the U.S. population overall, according to the Indian Health Service.
Growing up in the rural Washington communities of Omak and Chehalis, Dr. Cooke saw firsthand the impact of limited health care access, especially among Native American populations. He traveled the country—and world—completing his medical training at Yale, doing volunteer work in Africa, and honing a specialty in neurology at the Mayo Clinic before deciding to return to his home state to practice.
The Cookes moved to Spokane in 1975. Judy worked as a registered nurse and later a psychiatric nurse and advanced registered nurse practitioner. Dr. Cooke practiced neurology for 43 years—three decades consulting at all Spokane area hospitals and 11 years at the multiple sclerosis clinic at Providence Holy Family Hospital. All the while, as a trusted voice in the Spokane medical community, Dr. Cooke recognized the need for a community-based medical school in Washington.
“I wanted a new medical school in eastern Washington,” Dr. Cooke said. “I was clinical faculty teaching neurology to residents from the University of Washington for years. But I felt it was time to get a second medical school and base it in eastern Washington with the goal of training people to stay in Washington.”
When that dream became a reality, Dr. Cooke invested his time in supporting the new college and was one of the first in the region’s health care community to join the founding faculty members. He taught neurology to the first three classes of WSU medical students.
“Being a part of that first year was the best,” Dr. Cooke added referring to the inaugural MD class that began the program in 2017. “They seemed highly motivated, that first class, and that was a real treat to go to their graduation.”
Dr. Cooke retired from his practice and teaching in 2020, but he and his wife keep the college close to their hearts. They stay connected to students by attending events, like the WSU Native American Health Sciences Honoring Ceremony, also called a Blanketing Ceremony, where they can meet the next generation of health care leaders. And of course, by generously supporting students through their scholarship fund and an estate gift.
Dr. and Mrs. Cooke reduce the financial burden of a medical education for our highly motivated and mission-aligned learners and make it possible for our student doctors to train in the communities they want to serve.