Jean Enersen doesn’t just fund a scholarship at the UW School of Medicine — she takes an active role in mentoring the students she supports.

Jean Enersen has interviewed countless people over the course of her four-decade career. As the first female local news anchor in the U.S., she has interviewed politicians, presidents and some of the most influential people in recent U.S. history. She was even the first local journalist to report from China after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations.

But when asked about the most impactful story she’s reported, Enersen talks about interviewing a sick little girl.

“This young girl, Kathrina Goodwin, had Marshall-Stickler syndrome, which means her brain was growing larger than her cranium,” says Enersen. “I met her when she was very young — she could barely see, barely breathe, because her brain was so constricted.”

When Enersen first interviewed Kathrina, her doctors were trying to figure out a way to allow her skull to expand to accommodate her brain. They succeeded.

“The last time I saw her, she was learning to downhill ski,” says Enersen.

Stories like Kathrina’s, along with other healthcare reporting, helped inspire her philanthropy. Enersen also spearheaded KING5’s early reporting on the AIDS crisis, even helping to organize Seattle’s first AIDS walk.

“I learned a lot about medicine in my career and had the opportunity to share that information with others by telling stories about new research or a patient’s journey through the medical system,” Enersen says. “I want to help any way I can.”

One way that Enersen has chosen to help is by creating a scholarship at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Jean Enersen Scholarship in Pediatric Medicine. In recognition of this generosity, she is receiving the 2025 Brotman Award.

“These students will bring new ideas, new outreach and new research to the community,” she says. In addition to her scholarship, Enersen is also an advocate for patients and families at Seattle Children’s Hospital and supports a training program for nurses at Heritage College in eastern Washington.

“I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on TV,” Enersen says. “I’m just someone who has come to understand medicine and the medical system to a small extent, and if sharing what I know can help others, that’s what I want to do.”

Supporting the next generation of physicians

The Jean Enersen scholarship currently offers substantial support to two UW School of Medicine students, and starting next year, it will fund the education of a third. Enersen’s dedication to supporting students is being recognized with the Brotman Leadership Award, which honors those whose visionary philanthropic leadership makes a significant impact on UW Medicine’s ability to carry out its mission — improving the health of the public.

“I knew Jeff Brotman — we both grew up in Seattle, and our paths crossed as students and then community advocates,” Enersen says. “He was a true servant of our community and was dedicated to the success of the UW School of Medicine. It’s an honor to be connected to his name.”

The students supported by the Jean Enersen scholarship are free to pursue whatever specialty they choose. As the name suggests, however, Enersen hopes they will consider pediatrics.

“It’s really important to give our kids a good start in life,” she says. “If we can help them at the outset, we’re helping them for the rest of their lives.”

Enersen’s investment in pediatrics comes from both her concern for the community and her own role as a mother and grandmother. These experiences shaped her dedication to helping children.

“It’s a gift to have two daughters and these wonderful grandchildren,” she says. “I think of the help I can provide in the medical system as an extension of what I did for my own kids. I’d like to do the same for other children who need support.”

Mentorship is a two-way street

Enersen doesn’t just fund the Jean Enersen scholarship — she takes an active role in mentoring the students she supports.

“Many medical students are new to this community, and I’ve lived here a long time. If I can help them feel comfortable in this community, I want to do that,” she says. “And they’re very interesting, very, very smart students. Our conversations are a two-way street — I can help them, but they help and inform me as well.”

Enersen’s hope is that the next generation of young doctors will come up with ways to improve the medical system.

“I attended the white coat ceremony for one of the students I was supporting, and the speaker — a third-year medical student — told the first-year students that they’re entering a faulty system, and it’s their job to fix it,” Enersen says. “It really struck me to hear this speaker encouraging these students to think beyond the courses they’re taking or the difficulties of getting through medical school to how they can improve the system.”

Enersen’s commitment to supporting UW School of Medicine students is her own way of improving the system.

“I’m doing this one small thing, which can seem like so little in the face of bigger systemic issues,” she says. “But if all of us together do one small thing, think of what we can accomplish.”

Written by Alex Israel