Maryland Area Health Education Centers offer programs to prepare youths for health careers, and the AHEC Scholars Program exposes health profession students to training in underserved areas.
The Maryland Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) consists of a program office and three regional centers, AHEC West, Eastern Shore AHEC (ESAHEC), and Central Maryland AHEC (CMAHEC). The program aims to address primary care workforce shortages by partnering with community organizations to strengthen the workforce and connect professionals to communities in need. The mission of the MAHEC Program is to improve the health of all Marylanders by recruiting, training, and retaining a qualified and diverse health workforce in underserved areas. The week of March 24-28 is the observation of National AHEC Week.
Pipeline/Health Careers Pathways Programs
All three centers offer programs to prepare youth for health care and public health careers. The ESAHEC conducts hands-on and interactive “Aging Simulation," “What’s Under Our Skin,” “Exploring Health Careers,” and a Dental Careers Exploration Program for high school students on the Eastern Shore.
AHEC West offers year-round ECHO (Exploring Careers in Health Occupations) programming that includes hand-on activities on aging, public health careers, and an annual visit to the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus in the summer. AHEC West also promotes careers in dentistry to high school and early college students with the Pathways to Bright Futures program.
Central Maryland AHEC partners with UMSOM's Master of Public Health program to conduct weekly seminars at Vivien T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy for high school students interested in public health careers. During Fiscal Year 2024, 95.6 percent of participants in these programs and activities reported that their awareness of health careers increased, and about 84 percent indicated that their interest in a health career or profession increased.
AHEC Scholars Program
The AHEC Scholars Program exposes health profession students to interprofessional didactic education and community-based clinical or experiential training in underserved areas. This longitudinal program is two years and requires a one-year follow-up. Eligible students must be enrolled at a Maryland institution and be two years from completing their degree. Eligible disciplines are dentistry, medicine, nurse practitioner, nursing-BSN, pharmacy, physician assistant, graduate psychology, and social work.
A partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers (MACHC) allows scholars to explore clinical placements and career opportunities with the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). The MACHC partnership is vital to retain scholars in Maryland and address the critical workforce shortages in underserved areas.
Cohort 4 Scholars, who graduated in 2024, report significant improvements. Those who strongly agree and agree with the statement "I have the necessary skills to care for people in rural/underserved settings" went from 71.1 percent before graduation to 100 percent post-graduation. One-year post-graduation follow-up survey data, from Cohort 3 Scholars, shows that about 70 percent practice in Maryland.
Clinical Education
The regional centers facilitate clinical rotations for AHEC Scholars and UMSOM students, with volunteer community preceptors, in underserved communities. Free housing is provided for students doing rotations in the rural Western Maryland and Eastern Shore regions.
Survey data analysis, from academic year 2023-24, shows increased interest in students working in all settings: medical underserved community (MUC), primary care setting, and rural areas with the highest observed in MUC. Further, 94 percent of students indicated that because of their rotation, clinical skills, knowledge, and cultural competency in working with underserved patients were enhanced.
For more information about the MAHEC Program, click here. Funding for MAHEC is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration and Maryland Department of Health.