AHEC Scholars is a program for health professions students interested in supplementing their education by gaining additional knowledge and experience in rural and/or underserved urban settings.
This is a longitudinal program with interdisciplinary curricula to implement a defined set of clinical, didactic, and community-based activities. All experiential or clinical training will be conducted in rural and/or underserved urban settings.
The program duration is two years and each year includes:
- 40 hours of community-based, experiential, or clinical training in rural and/or underserved areas
- 40 hours of education focused on 6 Core Topic Areas:
- Inter-professional Education
- Behavioral Health Integration
- Social Determinants of Health
- Cultural Competency
- Practice Transformation
- Current and Emerging Health Issues like opioid use disorder
Inaugural AHEC Scholars In Actions at UMass Medical School
Rodney Bruno, SOM ’22, and Ariana Perry, SOM ’22, have assumed leadership roles to develop and implement the Urban Health Scholars pathway as their scholarly capstone project. Both observed the challenges faced by residents in their own hometowns and intend to practice primary care in underserved communities.