AHEC OPPORTUNITIES: PATHWAY TO MEDICAL SCHOOL

BY MERRITT DANIELS –  Public health is defined as the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of communities through education, policy making and research for disease and injury prevention. In order for the United States of America to make strides in improving our healthcare system and addressing the deficient of physicians and other health professionals nationwide, the future of America’s Healthcare will rely heavily on the upcoming generation, which is why organizations such as local Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC’s) are so important! Many of you may be wondering, “What the heck is an AHEC?” An AHEC is a community driven, nonprofit organization whose goal is to increase access to healthcare by improving the number and distribution of healthcare providers in their designated regions. Today, there are more than 300 program offices across 48 states in the United States which are a part of the National AHEC organization (NAO). The overarching mission is to help enhance access to quality healthcare, particularly primary and preventative care, by improving the supply and distribution of healthcare professionals via strategic partnerships with academic programs, communities and professional organizations through advocacy, education, and research.

One key component to achieving their mission is providing students interested in pursuing a career in healthcare, particularly primary care, opportunities to make themselves more competitive in the Medical School Application cycle. The Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center   (SOWEGA-AHEC) has created a program to do just that. With long rang goals to cultivate a workforce that closely matches the state’s population in diversity, to assure that each community had enough practitioners in the right disciplines improve access to healthcare, they are doing so through preparing the next generation of practitioners now. SOWEGA-AHEC, in collaboration with Albany Area Primary Health Care (AAPHC) and Phoebe Family Medicine Residency Program created the Pathway to Med School Program to address the critical need for primary care physicians in Southwest Georgia. To determine how to make students more competitive, AHEC polled the admissions committees from each of the medical schools in Georgia to determine what beyond MCAT scores and GPA would increase students’ chances of being accepted. The overwhelming consensus was a much needed and significant structured clinical shadowing and medical research experience. The Albany based Pathway to Med School program was structures accordingly as a 4-week residential experience to include 50 hours of clinical shadowing in primary care settings and 75 hours of community-based research to include data collection, interpretation, and presentation. Participants also undergo mock interviews, seminars, medical school tours, and get to have lunch with someone on the admissions board for each of Georgia’s medical schools including, Mercer University School of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Emory School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and PCOM Georgia. Of the past 15 classes of Pathway graduates, 90%who have applied to and received a reply from their applications have gained admittance into medical school. In fact, 3 of the 10 participants of the 2018 Pathway Class currently attend the University of Georgia. SOWEGA-AHEC has created a program specially designed to enhance students’ probability of acceptance into medical school.

After seeing the success of the SOWEGA-AHEC program, another AHEC in the state of Georgia has created a similar structured Pathway to Med School in the northern part of the state. With clinical shadowing, community-based research, medical school campus visits, mock interviews, and much more Foothills AHEC has made the efforts to make Georgia students competitive in the application process.  Students who are form rural or underserved areas are statistically more likely to return to a rural or underserved area to practice. Through organizations like the AHEC’s, the hope for our state and nation’s healthcare future is bright. Applications to apply to the SOWEGA-AHEC Pathway to Med Schoolare due March 4th and to the Foothills-AHEC Pathway to Med School are due February 15th. Taking advantage of these opportunities could open doors to fields of interest or a particular region in Georgia you never considered.