Title:GUMC hosts national scholars program

Developed by Congress in 1971 to recruit, train, and retain health professionals committed to underserved populations, the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program uses resources from academic medicine to serve local community health needs in almost every state and now the District of Columbia.

AHEC Scholars is a national program for health profession students interested in gaining additional knowledge and experience in rural and urban underserved settings. The new DC program—hosted by the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University Medical
Center—is available to students in the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing.

Over a two-year period, AHEC Scholars have the opportunity to shadow clinicians and learn about core topic areas including social determinants of health, behavioral health, cultural humility, interprofessional education, practice transformation, COVID-19, and opioid use disorder.

“My experiences as an AHEC scholar have definitely impacted my approach to patient care and my goals as a healthcare provider,” says Dana Bulik (C’16, G’24), a student in the women’s health nurse practitioner program. “I enjoyed working at a variety of clinical sites in DC each with its own unique patient population, and I know this experience will help me to become a more conscientious, compassionate, and well-rounded provider in the future.”