PULLMAN, Wash. — A pair of major gifts totaling $2 million is helping Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine expand scholarship support for students, with the goal of training more physicians to serve communities across Washington.
The funding, provided by longtime WSU supporters Tom and Barbara Wilson and first-time donor Barbara Stephanus, will match philanthropic contributions to student scholarships through the college’s Medicine Multiplied campaign, reducing financial barriers for future doctors and encouraging them to practice in rural and underserved areas of the state.
“These matching funds are to help reduce the huge cost of going to medical school,” Tom Wilson said. “We’re trying to build it to $10,000 each year for each student to get that cost down so they can afford to work in the rural communities and stay out of student debt.”
For the Wilsons, that effort is rooted in the same vision that inspired the college’s creation.
When the College of Medicine celebrated 10 years of homegrown health care last year, the tributes poured in for the school’s namesake and his vision of accessible medical education to serve not only Washington’s students, but also its communities.
“From the outset, we were impressed by Elson Floyd’s vision for a Washington-centric medical school that caters to Washington-based students and produces doctors who will come back and serve rural and underserved areas of Washington,” Barbara Wilson said.
In 2025, the Wilsons recognized that the need to support medical students is greater than ever. Key sources of financial aid, including federal funding and borrowing limits, have been reduced or eliminated.
The Wilsons partnered with the college to match $1 million in philanthropic gifts to endowed student scholarships, determined to help Coug docs succeed and return to the communities that need them most.
A second $1 million gift for matching scholarship funds from Barbara Stephanus, a longtime supporter of medical research in Washington and first-time WSU donor, kept the momentum going.
With $2 million overall in matching funds, the College of Medicine launched the Medicine Multiplied scholarship campaign last fall to make a medical degree more accessible and affordable for Washington students. The campaign has raised more than $1 million for student scholarships so far and will run through 2026.
“Our future physicians are facing unprecedented challenges to financing their education,” said College of Medicine Dean Dr. James Record. “The generosity of Tom and Barbara Wilson and Barbara Stephanus made our matched scholarship campaign possible, and Cougs have already stepped up to support our students. With this momentum, we can continue to fulfill Dr. Floyd’s vision and meet the growing health care needs of our state.”
Longtime and new WSU supporters alike looking to future of medicine
The Wilsons, retirees from Seattle, have supported WSU for more than 30 years. They were among the first donors to the College of Medicine and longtime supporters of the women’s rowing program at WSU.
For WSU’s MD program, the Wilsons saw an opportunity to make a greater impact through a matching grant, allowing other donors to double contributions to endowed scholarships.
“Each MD can treat up to 150,000 patients in the course of their career,” Barbara Wilson said. “That’s quite the reach.”
Stephanus, also based in Seattle, is of a like mind. Seeing the impact federal borrowing limits would have on aspiring physicians, she also wanted to support student scholarships and encourage others to do the same.
“Without more doctors, we will not be able to implement the lifesaving medical knowledge that we have learned through research, which we’ve supported over the years,” Stephanus said.
WSU medical students come from across Washington’s communities, within many coming from rural, first-generation and low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Despite offering the more affordable MD degree in the state of Washington, WSU medical students tend to graduate with higher-than-average debt. More than 60% of last year’s graduates accrued debt of $200,000 or more, the national average for medical school debt. Many relied on the Federal Grad PLUS Loan, which will be eliminated in July 2026.
The Medicine Multiplied campaign is designed to fill that void. And while the $1 million gift from the Wilsons has been matched for endowed scholarships, there is still room to match the entire $1 million for current-use scholarships from Stephanus by December 2026.
“With this scholarship match, we are meeting the growing needs of our future doctors,” said Libby Manthei, senior director of development at the college. “Our donors set an ambitious goal for us. We intend to multiply their impact and the impact of every donor that gives to scholarships. Donors have until the end of the year to double their donation to current-use scholarships through this match program.”
To learn more about making a matched gift to the scholarship campaign — and its impact on WSU’s more than 300 medical students — visit the Medicine Multiplied website or contact Libby Manthei at elizabeth.manthei@wsu.edu.
Media Contacts
- Stephanie Engle, WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Communications and Marketing, 509-368-6937, stephanie.engle@wsu.edu
- Bryan Boyle, WSU Foundation, bryan.boyle@wsu.edu
