UI professor among Idaho Women of the Year honorees

Lynda Freeman, a clinical associate professor and academic skills specialist for the WWAMI Medical School at the University of Idaho, is one of 50 who were named a 2022 Women of the Year honoree by the Idaho Business Review.

Freeman is the first Black woman to become a full-time faculty member at Idaho WWAMI, according to a news release from the university. She’s worked there since 2015.

“I strive to impact students, organizations and the community with compassion and excellence,” Freeman said in the release. “I am so grateful to the Idaho Business Review for this award acknowledging my work and I hope it inspires more women — especially women of color — who want to pursue careers in public health and medical education.”

At Idaho WWAMI, Freeman used her knowledge of public health to design courses for medical students’ professional and personal development.

She co-leads a course on social determinants of health and race equity, conducts workshops and coordinates tutoring, mental health counseling and testing services for students in the medical school.

“Lynda doesn’t just teach,” Public Health – Idaho North Central District Director Carol Moehrle said in the news release. “She instills a desire for learning and encourages critical thinking in her students. She also supplements her teaching by collaborating with other leaders and experts in the community, bringing real-life experiences and examples to her students to learn with and from.”

Prior to working at UI, she was a rural health outreach coordinator at the Area Health Education Center in Tuskegee, Ala.

Freeman is currently faculty co-adviser for UI’s Black Student Union, faculty adviser to Idaho WWAMI students in the National Medical Association, member of UI’s Black Faculty and Staff Association and member of the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Underrepresented in Medicine Advisory Group.

A full list of the Women of the Year honorees is posted to the Idaho Business Review’s website.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.