Wyoming WWAMI Welcomes New Clinical Dean for Medical Education Program

Cheyenne physician Dr. Robert Monger has been named the new clinical dean for the WWAMI Medical Education Program at the University of Wyoming and will begin his duties Aug. 1.

Monger, an internist with the Cheyenne Regional Medical Group, has been active in medical education for more than 20 years -- and specifically with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) since the mid-2000s. He currently serves as an instructor/lecturer for UWSOM’s Wyoming WWAMI foundations curriculum.

Current clinical dean, Dr. Larry Kirven, will retire at the end of July. Kirven will continue working with the WRITE program (WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience) across the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region.

“We are excited to have Dr. Monger join us as the new Wyoming WWAMI clinical dean,” says Suzanne Allen, vice dean for academic, rural and regional affairs for UWSOM. “Dr. Monger has been an integral part of Wyoming WWAMI for a number of years, and we anticipate a seamless transition from Dr. Kirven to Dr. Monger.”

In the past, Monger has been a UWSOM clerkship director and a clinical preceptor for UWSOM’s Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program. Monger also is a member of the Wyoming Medical Society-WWAMI Advisory Committee and is a former chair of UWSOM’s Wyoming WWAMI Medical School Admissions Committee.

“Dr. Monger brings a terrific amount of experience with him as he takes on this position. With his previous experience serving on the WWAMI admissions committee, his current service on the WWAMI advisory council, and as an instructor in our foundations phase, Dr. Monger has a broad understanding of how WWAMI works in Wyoming,” says Tim Robinson, foundations dean for the Wyoming WWAMI Medical Education Program. “Dr. Monger is a terrific teacher and is passionate about medical education.”

A 1984 graduate of East High School in Cheyenne, Monger went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1988 and, in 1992, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City.

Monger’s postgraduate training includes an internal medicine residency at Michigan State University and a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Monger has served in various leadership roles throughout his medical career, most notably as the current governor for the American College of Physicians’ Wyoming chapter and the former president of the Wyoming Medical Society. He also is editor-in-chief of Wyoming Medicine magazine, a position he has held since 2009.

"I’m very excited about my new position and the opportunity to help advance medical education in Wyoming,” Monger says. “The 25-year partnership between the University of Washington, the University of Wyoming and the state of Wyoming is of great benefit to the state -- helping train Wyoming doctors for Wyoming -- and I feel fortunate to have been given a larger role in the education of our future physicians.”