The university focuses on educating health care professionals to serve "rural and medically underserved communities throughout the Northwest".

[5] Founded in 2005, the university's inaugural program was the first new medical school to open in the Pacific Northwest in sixty years.

[14] The school now has established rotation sites for its medical students across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana.

Years 1 and 2 of the DO program consist primarily of classroom-based learning in Yakima, which focuses on gross anatomy in a live cadaver lab, Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment, the basic sciences, and an in-depth study of the body systems.

[17] The school currently has 18 sites for clinical rotations over the five-state region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

[16] PNWU is partnered with Washington State University and hosts WSU Nursing and PharmD students on its campus.

Watson Hall opened its doors in 2019 and is the home of the School of Physical Therapy and WSU College of Nursing - Yakima.

Students can volunteer at the Union Gospel Mission Medical Clinic and with the Roots to Wings co-mentorship program.