Director: Daniel S. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Director: Katherine Erwin, D.D.S.

Area Health Education Centers Program Director: Daniel S. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.H.; Assistant Director: Katherine Erwin, D.D.S. The AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) Program is one of more than 40 AHEC programs nationwide. More information about the national program can be found at http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/ahec and at http://www.nationalahec.org/home/index.asp. Our program collaborates closely with the Georgia Statewide AHEC Network www.mcg.edu/ahec, which is funded through the Medical College of Georgia. AHEC provides educational opportunities for health sciences students and residents, continuing education for health professionals, recruitment programs for disadvantaged high school students, and consumer information for community residents.

Each community-based AHEC center is a coalition of hospitals, community colleges, nursing homes and community health centers, as well as local and state health departments and community groups. Founded in 1984, the Morehouse School of Medicine AHEC Program includes three centers: the Southeastern Primary Care Consortium (SPCC)/Atlanta AHEC http://www.atlantaahec.org,  serving metro Atlanta; the Tuskegee AHEC http://www.tahec.org/Default.php,  serving 19 rural counties in Alabama, and the Magnolia Coastlands AHEC http://www.magnoliacoastlandsahec.org, serving 39 counties in rural southeast Georgia. In addition to the SPCC/Atlanta AHEC and the Magnolia Coastlands AHEC, the Georgia Statewide Network includes the Southwest Georgia AHEC http://www.sowega-ahec.org/, the Blue Ridge AHEC http://www.blueridgeahec.rome.ga.us, the Three Rivers AHEC http://www.threeriversahec.org, and the Foothills AHEC http://www.foothillsahec.org/default.htm.

The AHEC Program provides essential support for our Rural Primary Care Clerkship, Community Health Course, and Clinical Preceptorship, as well as the MSM Pediatric Residency Program and other community-based educational and health promotion initiatives. The Health Education and Training Centers (HETC) Program was closely associated with the AHEC Program until 2006, when the Congress eliminated HETC funding. HETC established community coalitions and trained community health workers in low-income communities across the state; many of these went on to become self sustaining, such as the Southeast Georgia Communities Project http://leadershipforchange.org/awardees/awardee.php3?ID=109.