This summer, the UW School of Medicine Alumni Association welcomes Dr. Pagalilauan as its new president, succeeding Blair Washington, MD ’02, MHA ’97, FACOG, FACS, after four years of Washington’s dedicated leadership (2022-2026).

As she steps into her new role, Pagalilauan reflects on her academic and professional journey. She also shares her thoughts on how the association can strengthen alumni connections, support service learning and help prepare future medical leaders.

A family connection to healing

For Genevieve L. Pagalilauan, MD, her roots in medicine — and service to the community — run deep.

Born in the Philippines, she moved to the United States at age three. A self-described “nerdy kid,” she loved science and was fascinated by how biology worked. Her mother was a nurse, and Pagalilauan often waited at the hospital for her to finish her shifts.

She also grew up hearing stories about her paternal grandfather, who remained in the Philippines and worked as a general practitioner in a rural community into his early 80s. He lived above his clinic and there was no appointment system; patients lined up in the courtyard to see him. If they couldn’t pay, they brought what they could — sometimes even a chicken.

“Those values are very entrenched in me,” Pagalilauan says. “Being a doctor isn’t a clock-in, clock-out transaction. It’s caring for a person over time and caring for the health of communities.”

But it was a family tragedy that solidified her decision to pursue a career in medicine. When she was about 11, a cousin she was very close to was critically injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center, and although her cousin did not survive, the dedicated, compassionate care they received made an impression on Pagalilauan.

“Seeing my cousin on life support when I grew up playing with them every weekend and witnessing how physicians supported our family was very formative,” she says. “It was the tipping point.”

Finding her path to primary care

Choosing where to attend medical school was simple. After earning her undergraduate degree at the University of Washington (UW), Pagalilauan knew she wanted to attend the UW School of Medicine. She was accepted three days after her interview and withdrew her other applications.

“I loved my experience as a medical student here,” she says. “I didn’t fully understand until later how unique it was.”

Her class included students with a wide range of ages, backgrounds and perspectives, and during her WWAMI training, that cohort stayed closely connected. “I honestly enjoyed everything I did in all my clerkships in my third and fourth year, and I felt so prepared to go into any specialty.”

Deciding on which specialty was the hard part.

“There are so many aspects of medicine that are wonderful,” she says. “But I learned that I cared deeply about continuity. I wanted to be part of someone’s care over a longer period of time, which made primary care feel like the best fit.”

Pagalilauan also appreciated that the School encouraged that choice.

“I was celebrated for thinking about primary care,” she says, “instead of being told it was something you went into if you weren’t smart enough for a specialty.”

Mentors like Dr. Erika Goldstein, who taught Introduction to Clinical Medicine, and Dr. Cornelius Rosse, her anatomy professor, emphasized humanism and excellence. “The rigor taught me that you ask the most from yourself,” Pagalilauan says, “because that’s what your patients deserve.”

Service beyond the clinic walls

Pagalilauan brought that philosophy to her practice at UW Medical Center–Roosevelt, where she has cared for many of the same patients for more than 25 years. Alongside her clinical work, she is an associate professor who teaches medical students and residents, serves as associate program director for primary care in the internal medicine residency and co-leads the UW School of Medicine Service Learning program as well as the UW Health Sciences Service Learning Advisory Committee.

The program gives health sciences and medical students opportunities to develop clinical skills while addressing the health needs of under-resourced communities.

“It struck me early in my training that a houseless person in Pioneer Square often doesn’t have access to medical care,” she says. “It’s only when there’s a crisis that they end up in a hospital. We need to bring the care to them.”

One project that does exactly that is the Harborview Medical Center Mobile Health Outreach program. Interprofessional UW health sciences students and volunteer faculty provide free, full-spectrum medical care through an outreach medical van for people who were recently unhoused and are now living in tiny home villages.

“I’m deeply inspired by these students and my colleagues who are so dedicated to this work,” she says. “If we’re going to serve the needs of the whole community, medicine can’t be limited to a clinic or hospital.”

A vision for connection

When the opportunity arose to become president of the UW School of Medicine Alumni Association, Pagalilauan saw it as another way to strengthen the community. She had already worked closely with the association through events with graduating medical students.

“That connectivity is so important,” she says. “Students need to know they’re part of something bigger — an alumni community that exists across the country.”

She hopes to build that sense of connection by listening to the needs of alumni in a rapidly changing healthcare environment, fostering peer-to-peer engagement wherever someone is in their career and creating opportunities for collaboration across the full spectrum of interprofessional work.

“I think that uplifting our colleagues who are also part of our School of Medicine, like our MEDEX program, physical therapists, occupational therapists and prosthetist-orthotists, gives us an exciting opportunity to learn from each other,” she says.

Whether as a physician, mentor, educator or advocate, Pagalilauan holds to her guiding belief: Caring for patients and caring for communities are inseparable.

She compares it to curb cuts in sidewalks — designed for people in wheelchairs but helpful for parents with strollers, children learning to ride bikes and workers pushing carts.

“Meeting people where they’re at helps everybody,” she says.

Written by Nicole Beattie