National AHEC Week: Celebrating Education, Workforce, & Community

National Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Week is March 24-28, 2025, and strives to “Strengthening the Nation’s Healthcare Workforce.”

Congress established the AHEC system in 1971 to recruit, train, and retain a health professions workforce dedicated to underserved populations in urban and rural areas. AHEC Regional Centers operate in 44 states and several U.S. Territories, addressing current and future health workforce needs for universal access to quality healthcare.

VT AHEC is a statewide network of academic and community partners, including UVM Larner College of Medicine AHEC Program (Burlington), Northern VT AHEC (St. Johnsbury), and Southern VT AHEC (Springfield), collaborating to increase Vermont’s health workforce supply, distribution, and education.

VT AHEC supports the health workforce pipeline from middle school students to practicing professionals through:

• Health careers awareness, exploration, and preparation programs for youth
• Support for medical student clinical rotations
• Mentoring and community-based projects for undergraduate students
• Opportunities for graduate health students to strengthen leadership and gain competencies (e.g., AHEC Scholars)
• Workforce recruitment and retention initiatives (e.g., scholarships, loan repayment programs, recruitment services)
• Continuing education and quality improvement for health professionals

In the past year, VT AHEC has been very busy meeting our mission and elevating medical education and support through a variety of initiatives including:

• Provided continuing education to 2,785 health professionals
• Connected with over 5,595 middle school, high school, and undergraduate students through onsite and offsite events with medical mentors
• Supported 70 primary care Family Medicine medical student clinical rotations
• Engaged 325 medical students in the AHEC Scholars Program
• Worked with 154 primary care practice sites, many precepting UVM medical students
• Facilitated eight new physician placements in Vermont
• Processed 465 applications for the Vermont Educational Loan Repayment Program, disbursing $2,360,900

Additionally, VT AHEC supports programs in partnership with the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, through the Health & Medicine Institute over the summer. This summer’s Health & Medicine Institute will take place at VTSU Lyndon (July 6-12) and VTSU Castleton (July 13-19). This program gives high school students hands-on health science experiences and exposure to various health careers. For more information, visit www.giv.org

Northern VT AHEC is also launching an EMT Hybrid Course to prepare participants for the National Registry Emergency Medicine Technician (NREMT) exam and a rewarding Emergency Medicine Services career.

Visit Southern Vermont AHEC at www.stvahec.org and Northern Vermont AHEC at www.nvtahec.org to learn more. There is also a wealth of other AHEC resources at vthealthcareers.org.

Written in collaboration by Jennifer Scott, PsyD, ABPP, Executive Director, Southern Vermont AHEC, Nicole LaPointe, EdD, MSW, Executive Director, Northern Vermont AHEC, and Elizabeth Côté, Director, Office of Primary Care and AHEC Program, The Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont.