Department of Family & Community Medicine

SLU AHEC Program

"Connecting students to careers, professionals to communities and communities to better health"

Program Director: F. David Schneider, MD, MSPH
Deputy Director: David Pole, MPH
AHEC Medical Director: Fred Rottnek, MD, MAHCM

Overview
Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) were developed in the early 1970s as a means to address the maldistribution of health professionals in urban and rural medically underserved areas throughout the nation. Presently, there are 42 AHEC programs active in the national network that includes 40 states. www.nationalahec.org

The SLU Area Health Education Center Program Office was established in September, 2001. The primary goal of the office is to enhance access to quality healthcare through community-academic educational partnerships focusing on the healthcare needs of the underserved St. Louis area. The program office works in conjunction with the Missouri AHEC Network (MAHEC), which consists of 7 regional centers and 3 program offices. The SLU AHEC Program Office works directly with the East Central Missouri Area Health Education Center (ECMO AHEC) providing services in the St. Louis Region and within SLU health professions programs.

The SLU AHEC Program Office is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Professions. The Program Office administers a multidisciplinary academic consortium at SLU that includes representatives from the cooperating schools of Medicine, Nursing, Allied Health, Public Health, and Social Service.

AHEC Objectives:

• Develop recruitment programs throughout the region, with a focus on medically underserved urban areas, that enhance understanding of health careers and provide academic and skills programs for underrepresented populations entering health professions training programs.
• Support academic and community-based multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary training for primary care health profession students, residents, and physicians that develop understanding and skills to eliminate health disparities and serve culturally diverse populations.
• Provide educational support, information dissemination, and technical assistance to reduce professional isolation, increase retention, and enhance the practice environment of physicians practicing in underserved areas.

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