Learn About Central MassAHEC
Serving Worcester County since 1982
CHI’s Central MassAHEC (CM AHEC) was created by University of Massachusetts Medical School as part of the MassAHEC Network a statewide system of six regional offices to “improve the supply, distribution, diversity and quality of the healthcare workforce” and to provide innovative, collaborative and interprofessional responses to current and emerging health issues.
Designed to be responsive to local health needs and serve as an important link between academic training programs and community-based outreach programs, CM AHEC offers creative, hands-on and innovative training experiences to medical students and other health profession students during a two-year AHEC Scholars program.
Our CM AHEC Scholars program:
- Puts health professions students in a variety of real-world settings, such as urban and rural community health clinics and settings.
- Coordinates service-learning opportunities to increase students’ awareness of the barriers in health care delivery.
- Increases students’ understanding of the complex needs of rural and underserved communities.
- Connects students to communities to facilitate future engagement and network alliance building for health career students to remain in their clinical practice regions and continue providing more sustainable healthcare in rural and underserved areas following their training.
Partner With Us
Help Us Educate Health Professions Students
To Improve their Future Practice
Do you:
- Have experience creating or offering health services for urban or rural communities?
- Have unique knowledge about specific urban or rural community health needs or strategies?
- Have expertise working with vulnerable populations (e.g., unhoused, refugees, immigrants, older adults, persons in recovery, foster children, domestic violence survivors)?
- Work in a Worcester County community-based organization where AHEC Scholars could get involved?
Some Past Community Partners Include:
- Physicians and Faculty from UMass Memorial Health and UMass Chan Medical School
- AIDS Project Worcester
- Dismiss House
- Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Support Center
- Family Health Community Health Center of Worcester
- Road to Care Mobile Addiction Service
- Honoring Choices® Massachusetts
- And others
Current Projects
Approximately 50 medical students are selected to participate in our two-year CM AHEC Scholars program at a time. The curriculum includes a minimum of 40 hours of community-based, experiential, or clinical training in rural and/or underserved areas and 40 hours of education focused on 8 Core Topic Areas: Interprofessional Education (IPE), Cultural Competence, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), Practice Transformation, Health Equity, Telehealth, Connecting with Communities, and Current and Emerging Health Issues, e.g., the COVID Pandemic, Opioid Use Disorder. Examples of some current program activities include:
Advocacy at the Massachusetts State House
CHI’s Central MassAHEC Center Director Rosa Fernandez (back row, far right) and MassAHEC Scholars at the State House for the 2026 Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians (MassAFP) ADVOCACY DAY on May 13th. This annual event convenes physicians, residents, and medical students to advocate for issues important to Family Medicine and to learn about MassAFP’s legislative priorities, including improving population health, increasing health equity, and decreasing the overall cost of healthcare.
Podiatry Clinic for Community Members Who Are Unhoused
Annually, Central MassAHEC partners with AIDS Project Worcester to offer a Podiatry Clinic for community members who are unhoused. Podiatry care helps prevent foot pain, wounds, and infections among people experiencing homelessness. Healthy feet are essential for walking to shelter, food, work, and services. For people with diabetes or other chronic conditions, foot care can prevent serious complications. The most recent clinic served 55 community members with kind and professional foot care.
Anti-Violence Advocacy
CM AHEC Scholars heard from community domestic violence experts and wore denim to recognize International Denim Day, a Global Day of Solidarity with survivors of sexual violence to affirm shared values of dignity and respect and help raise awareness that responsibility always lies with those who cause harm, never with those who experience it.
Engaging with the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester
CM AHEC students learned from the Coalition leaders about its Community Health Assessment and Health Improvement Planning process and attended the Coalition’s Annual Meeting.
What the Scholars are Saying
“My experience as a MassAHEC Scholar has deepened my understanding of the importance of advocacy, accessibility, and community-centered healthcare. I saw how bringing resources directly into community settings allows individuals to seek care and ask questions they may otherwise avoid in more traditional clinical environments. I also gained a deeper understanding for how healthcare disparities are often driven not by a lack of available treatments, but by barriers such as limited access to information, difficulty navigating complex systems, and inconsistent access to care.”
