History of AHEC

The national Area Health Education Center organization (AHEC) was established in 1971 as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). It was created to link the resources of university health science centers with local planning, educational and clinical entities in order to address the distribution of health care providers in medically underserved urban and rural areas.

In 48 states, there are now more than 350 Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) similar to Central AHEC. Each state has at least one AHEC Program Office which functions as a lead administrator. In Connecticut, the Program Office is housed within the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. It provides administrative leadership to three other Connecticut AHEC offices in addition to Central AHEC.

The additional centers are located in Bridgeport (Southwestern AHEC), Jewett City (Southeastern AHEC), and Waterbury (Northwestern AHEC). The core funding for Connecticut AHEC operations comes from the HRSA and the Connecticut Department of Higher Education.

Information about the National AHEC Organization can be found at www.nationalahec.org. National AHEC is dedicated to connecting students to careers, professionals to communities, and communities to better health.