Submitted by UW Medicine

The Stern family has established a legacy at the University of Washington School of Medicine through a gift of the family home on San Juan Island. The proceeds of the sale of the home will establish the Pauline and Edgar Stern Program for Medical Education, which will provide training support for more than 5,000 physician faculty across the five-state region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

While UW medical students enter into multiple specialties, the Stern Program will focus its efforts on supporting primary care training, which is of great importance in the rural and underserved areas of our region. By training doctors on how to be teachers of medicine, the Stern Program is supporting the best medical care for our communities.

The late Pauline (Polly) and Edgar Stern were philanthropists with a deep belief in service to their communities. In the 1970s, the Sterns developed Deer Valley Resort in Utah as well as many other projects in the ski and hotel industries. They put down roots on San Juan Island in 1986, devoting their time to leadership roles in the greater Pacific Northwest.

Dr. James Patterson, who served as a physician on San Juan Island and was a personal friend of the Sterns, said of Polly and Edgar: “In all their ventures, quality was their standard and ‘to make things better.’ Nowhere is that more obvious than in their contribution of this endowed program, the Stern Program for Medical Education.”

UW Medicine is deeply grateful to the members of the Stern family for their transformative support that will shape the future of medicine for generations to come.