The WAMI (Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) program began in 1971 as a cooperative agreement among the aforementioned states. The program provides access to medical school to state residents of Alaska, Montana, and Idaho -- states without medical schools -- and also brings medical education into these states.

WAMI students were, and are, admitted to the University of Washington Medical School. They initially spent their first year at satellite universities including Washington State University, the University of Idaho, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (later the University of Alaska-Anchorage), and Montana State University. During their first year, all students of the UW Medical School, including WAMI students, were registered for the same first-year course. Consequently course topics, materials, evaluations, and exams were similar at all five sites.