Dr. Joe Jensen and his daughter Phoebe Jensen at the award ceremony in Wisconsin.
Methow Valley native Phoebe Jensen has been named recipient of the prestigious Walter Zeit Fellowship Leadership Award for 2017 by the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW).
Jensen, the daughter of Dr. Joe Jensen and Beverly Jensen of Twisp, is a fourth-year student at the medical school, which has three campuses in Wisconsin.
The Walter Zeit Fellowship Leadership Award is presented to the senior student who has consistently displayed superior qualities of leadership, loyalty, selfless service, initiative and compassion toward his or her peers and to MCW, according to information from the college.
Jensen earned a bachelor of science degree from Washington State University, where she majored in microbiology, graduated cum laude and was awarded Phi Beta Kappa and the President’s Honor Roll. She has an interest in internal medicine and global health.
According to information from the college, Jensen “exhibited dedication to community and volunteer involvement at MCW which includes volunteering at the Saturday Free Clinic for the Uninsured and in the Applicant Host Program. Her volunteer efforts led to an impressive list of leadership positions, including serving on the Student Liaison Committee to the Molecular Cells course, being elected to the Student Assembly as a class representative and serving as co-president of the American Medical Association-Medical Student Section.
“As co-president of the American Medical Association (AMA) and a delegate to both the AMA international and national meetings, Jensen developed and organized numerous on-campus activities for students and worked to increase medical student awareness of political and social issues facing physicians.
“While serving as chair of the Student Health Insurance Committee at the medical college, Jensen helped negotiate a new contract for student health insurance that included increased coverage and an overall decrease in premium payments.”
Jensen also served on the MCW Council of Presidents, where she helped develop the structure for student government and activities at the regional campuses.
She was inducted into the MCW Gold Humanism Honor Society Chapter, which recognizes students who exemplify humanistic attributes, and helps to acknowledge and further the study of humanism within medicine to the forefront.
Dr. Joe Jensen owned Methow Valley Family Practice in Twisp before selling the practice to Family Health Centers, a nonprofit health care system based in Okanogan, in 2015. Jensen had acquired the Twisp clinic in 1992. Phoebe Jensen worked in her father’s clinic while growing up in the Methow Valley.
