The mission of the Maryland Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) is to improve the health status of Marylanders through community educational partnerships that foster a commitment to enhancing health care access in the rural and urban underserved areas of the state.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine has directed the Maryland AHEC Program for over a quarter century. The Maryland AHEC Program provides comprehensive clinical education and training for undergraduate medical students and residents, as well as for students from other health professions schools at the University of Maryland. The Maryland AHEC attracts students, interns and residents to rural and urban underserved areas, fostering their interest in practicing in these areas. AHEC activities promote increased recruitment and retention of physicians and other health care professionals; provide multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary training for students and health professionals; provide collaborative community-based continuing education and training opportunities for health professionals in rural and urban medically underserved areas and provide exposure to rural and urban practice opportunities.

Our program is comprised of two rural centers – the Western Maryland AHEC and the Eastern Shore AHEC – and a new urban center – the Baltimore AHEC.

The AHEC program has several important purposes, including:

• Forming linkages between health care delivery systems and educational resources in underserved communities;
• Creating collaborative community-based education and training opportunities
  for health professionals, students and primary care resident physicians;
• Increasing the number of individuals from minority and underserved communities who enter health careers;
• Supporting multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary training in response to community needs; and
• Creating systems for learning and networks for information dissemination.