Since 1990, Whitefish area residents have been able to count on Dr. Jay Erickson to treat their families.

The Minnesota native was recently honored for his nearly 25 years of practice by being named Montana’s 2014 Family Physician of the Year.

“It’s hard to know how I feel,” he said. “I really value family medicine. I think family medicine puts patients first and I love that.”

The Montana Academy of Family Physicians selected Erickson for the honor from some 350 practitioners in the state.

Besides working part time at Glacier Medical Associates, Erickson is also assistant dean for regional affairs for the Montana WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) Clinical Phase at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

He juggles 120 Montana medical students all over the state, ensuring they get important experience, while rural communities get vital medical care. 

Currently, students can go through clinical rotations in places as small as Conrad or Baker or as big as Bozeman, Billings and other large cities in Montana.

Erickson applied for the job and got it in 2004. He oversees all aspects of clinical medicine for WWAMI students in Montana. When his tenure started, there were seven clerkships in four communities. He has since expanded the programs to include 34 clerkships in 11 communities, on top of the dozens of rural underserved areas in which students can hold clinics.

“I’ve been extremely lucky to be involved with academics in such a small community,” Erickson said. “That I can be involved with University of Washington without having to leave this town is pretty special.”

He said while the honor from his peers was great, it’s Montana’s tight-knit medical community that should take the credit.

“The beauty of my job with WWAMI is that I get around the state and meet all these medical providers all over,” Erickson said. “There are a huge number of doctors doing great medicine in this state who do not get honored.”

In any given year, Montana’s WWAMI clinical program accepts 30 students, who spend their first year in Bozeman. From there, students spend time in Seattle. For the third and fourth years, students from all the WWAMI states come to Montana for clinical rotations.

Erickson said balancing his own practice at Glacier Medical Associates and his work with WWAMI isn’t the easiest task.

“It’s a little bit of a challenge,” he said. “When I wake up, am I going to the office to see patients or am I going to deal with students? Some days are a blend, I do a bit of both.”

Erickson was twice named Whitefish citizen of the year and he spends time as medical director of the Shepherd’s Hand free medical clinic in Whitefish, seeing more than 2,400 patient visits annually.

He balances all that with his wife of 31 years, Meg, and his two sons, Andy and Will.