This year’s meeting, entitled “Bringing the Pieces Together,” will provide opportunities for the students, who were chosen by their area AHEC directors, educators, advocates, health professionals, and community leaders to share ideas, discuss workforce development issues, and ways to reduce medical professional shortages in underserved areas. Achievement awards will be presented for the six regional Indiana AHECs.
One of the events designed to expand the students’ horizons is a health care boot camp with representatives from health professions not typically associated with medicine, including first responders, Indiana Canine Assistant Network trainers and a hospital therapy dog, pathologists and dieticians.
AHEC was founded in 2001 to improve access to quality health care through community-academic partnerships. Goals include connecting students to health careers, connecting health professionals to underserved sites and connecting communities to better health.
“AHEC builds a health professions workforce that’s willing and able to serve our state’s most vulnerable communities,” said AHEC director Richard D. Kiovsky, M.D., professor of clinical family medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Research on health workforce studies from the Bowen Research Center will be presented by Indiana University School of Medicine faculty members Deborah I. Allen, M.D., the Otis R. Bowen Professor and director of the center, and Terrell W. Zollinger, Dr.P.H., professor of family medicine and associate director of the center.
Tuesday’s meeting will be at the Marten House, 1801 W. 86th Street, Indianapolis.
For more information, see www.ahec.iupui.edu.