The University of South Florida Area Health Education Center took its opportunity to shine recently when the program hosted a visit by Elizabeth Duke, PhD, administrator for the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. HRSA oversees the nation’s AHEC programs, including the one at USF and four other medical schools across Florida.

Dr. Duke was in Tampa to present the keynote address at the National Health Service Corps Scholars Conference. She and her senior advisor Steve Smith spent the morning of Aug. 1 with USF AHEC Program Director Cynthia S. Selleck, DSN, ARNP; Gulfcoast North AHEC Executive Director Jody Lazzara, LMHC; and Gulfcoast South AHEC Chief Executive Officer Edna Apostol, MPH. “It was an honor for us to have Dr. Duke visit our program,” Dr. Selleck said.

AHEC works closely with NHSC to encourage, train, recruit and retain a diverse and broad range of health professionals to practice in communities where the need is greatest, primarily in medically underserved inner-city and rural areas experiencing servere healthcare workforce shortages. Dr. Selleck is an NHSC Ambassador and also serves as the current president of the National AHEC Organization. Dr. Duke’s visit was the opportunity to showcase for the HRSA guests two of AHEC’s “pipeline” programs that target promising underrepresented and disadvantaged youth interested in pursuing careers in health. Students partcipating in Interdisciplinary Community Health Scholars (ICHS) and Pre-Medical Student Enrichment Program (PSEP) shared with Dr. Duke the impact of their AHEC experiencs.

Public health students Renee Clark, left, and LaShanta Rice, were part of an ICHS team that develped an educational toolkit for a Sarasota initiative helping women to have substance free pregnancies.

ICHS brings teams of students from various health professions together for the summer to help tackle real-life public health issues. Public health graduate students and ICHS participants Renee Clarke and LaShanta Rice showed Dr. Duke an educational toolkit their team created for Clean Start, a Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County initiative to help women have substance abuse-free pregnancies. “Within the team setting, we were exposed to social workers, nurses, physicians and saw how everyone has an important piece of trying to solve a particular problem,” said team member Alyssa Brown, a second-year medical student. “We learned all the steps that need to be taken to get a community program off the ground.”

PSEP participants Harold Paul, a USF senior, and Daniel Quinones, a USF junior, shared their experiences as part of this intensive six-week summer program for highly motivated underrepresented minority and disadvantaged students preparing for medical or physical therapy school. Participants shadow community physicians, review for the MCAT (medical college entrance examination), work with patient simulators and standardized patients in the Center for Advanced Clinical Learning, and attend clinical seminars on such topics as health disparities, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Mr. Quinones shadowed the chief of orthopedic surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital and observed several surgeries as well as physician interactions with patients. “I would say about 80 percent of his patients spoke only Spanish,” said Quinones, who hopes to one day be an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon. “I learned a lot about the cultural aspects of medicine and barriers to care. It makes me want to be a better doctor…. Even if I become a specialist, I’d want to give back to the community.”

USF undergraduate students Harold Paul, left, and Daniel Quinones shared the insights they gained participating in this summer’s Pre-medical Student Enrichment Program.

AHEC introduces PSEP and ICHS students to community partners such as Premier Community Healthcare Group, a federally qualified health center that cares for medically underserved and uninsured patients in East Pasco County. Dr. Marlene Hart, medical director of Premier, along with Tampa Community Health Center CEO Charlie Bottoms and Suncoast Community Health Center CEO Brantz Roszel, also attended the meeting with Dr. Duke . The three FQHC executives spoke highly of their regard for AHEC. “It seems as if the best of the best come to us through you,” Mr. Roszel told Dr. Selleck. “I’m glad we could add some insights into how important you are.”

Dr. Duke commended the students on their interest in AHEC and was particularly impressed with the FQHC collaboration. “We desperately need diverse health professionals who understand patients who speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds,” she said. “I hope to meet you in the near future in your new roles.”

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications, and Anne Maynard, AHEC

HRSA Administrator Elizabeth Duke, PhD, center, with her senior advisor Steve Smith and USF AHEC Program Director Cynthia Selleck, DSN, ARNP.

Dr. Elizabeth Duke, center, with the USF students who shared their AHEC experiences during her visit. From left to right: Daniel Quinones, Harold Paul, Alyssa Brown, LaShanta Rice, and Renee Clarke.