The Washington State Senate honored Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine by adopting Resolution 8636 on March 21, formally recognizing the college’s 10-year anniversary and acknowledging the dedication of its students, faculty, and staff in addressing Washington’s critical need for more health care providers.
The resolution was sponsored by Majority Floor Leader Marcus Riccelli who represents Spokane and was one of the original sponsors of House Bill 1559, which granted WSU the authority to establish an independent medical school in 2015. He described the effort to amend a nearly century-old state law barring WSU from issuing medical degrees as “one of the greatest dances of legislation that I’ve participated in.”
In a speech on the senate floor, Senator Riccelli noted that the college has delivered on its promise to train more homegrown doctors to serve Washington communities.
“The stats are coming in and they’re truly amazing,” he said. To date, the WSU College of Medicine has graduated 248 medical doctors among more than 900 health care providers in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, Speech and Hearing Sciences, and other programs.
Senator Riccelli also acknowledged the central role of the college’s namesake, former WSU President Elson S. Floyd, who dedicated himself to advocating for the bipartisan 2015 bill and garnering community support for expanded medical education and services at WSU.
“None of that was possible, we all know, without Dr. Floyd, who had this vision and was the driving force that brought it to fruition,” Riccelli said.