An anonymous gift estimated at $50 million will cover clinical rotations for the senior-year clinical rotations of all undergraduate students enrolled in the Medical Laboratory Science Program at the University of Washington.
We are deeply grateful to the donor whose transformative generosity is making this and our program’s growth possible,” said Dr. Geoffrey S. Baird, professor and department chair at the UW School of Medicine.
Medical laboratory science graduates perform patient lab tests at hospitals and clinics and for public health agencies, conduct research in academic and commercial laboratories, and teach at colleges and universities.
According to UW Medicine, the anonymous gift will also help the program expand enrollment to 100 students over the next 10 years. Currently, there are 70 students, and 35 have begun their senior-year clinical rotations.
“I was shocked at first, and it took a second for me to process that they are going to pay our tuition. And then I felt a lot of relief,” said Jasmine Wertz, a senior in the program. “Our schedule is very demanding, especially when we start clinical rotations for 40 hours a week. It’s very hard to find time between studying and doing rotations to be able to hold a job.”
According to the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, more than 4 billion medical lab tests are performed each year in the United States.
Washington state and the rest of the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region face a shortage of medical laboratory specialists and the need continues to grow.
Currently, only two programs in Washington state offer baccalaureate-level medical science degrees.
©2025 Cox Media Group
