Iraqi medical students to visit WSU Spokane medical college

By Terren Roloff, WSU Spokane

Ken Roberts
Roberts

SPOKANE, Wash. – A select group of 25 medical students from Iraq will visit the WSU Health Sciences Spokane campus on Tuesday, July 25, to learn from faculty and staff of WSU’s new medical college.

The students were selected from more than 17,000 applicants to the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program. The program’s goal is to expose students to U.S. society and encourage the development of skills in leadership, diversity awareness and peace-building. Seventy-five other students were chosen to go to universities in Massachusetts, Arkansas and Montana.

Dr. Ken Roberts, vice dean of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, says the students are seeking to become leaders who can help end both violence related to war and interpersonal violence. “They believe they can learn from our medical school faculty and staff about how we will teach leadership and equity as key aspects of our program.”

Hosts from the WSU Office of International Programs said the students arrived in Pullman on July 9, the same day a new ISIS ceasefire went into effect with help from US-led airstrikes Mosul, Iraq. A welcome picnic on July 10 prompted a short videotape called “Washington State University, Mosul is Free.” Ali Mohammed Abdullah Al-Dabooni of Mosul, one of the students, wanted to videotape the message to show solidarity for his people there.

Media are invited to interview the students when they arrive on campus at 10:15 a.m. in the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building, 205 E. Spokane Falls Blvd. They will tour the anatomy lab and a simulation lab.

 

Media Contact:

Terren Roloff, Communications Director, 509-358-7527, terren.roloff@swsu.edu