The Michigan Area Health Education Center, a program of Wayne State University that seeks to increase access to quality primary care providers in underserved communities, today announced that it has been awarded $1.1 million in grant funds from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. The majority of the funds ($956,000) will be used to continue to strengthen its statewide network of 5 regional centers and provide an unprecedented number of health care career preparation initiatives, clinical experiences and continuing education programs for health care professionals in communities throughout the state. HRSA also supplied $230,000 to Michigan AHEC for a one-time supplemental funding award to be used for workforce training activities to support opioid use disorder diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
"The continued support by HRSA is a testament to the high quality services provided by AHEC for the health of Michigan," said Tsveti Markova, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., co-principal investigator of Michigan AHEC, endowed chair and professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and associate dean for Graduate Medical Education at the School of Medicine.
"The interprofessional nature of our Michigan AHEC has been lauded by HRSA nationwide as a forward thinking AHEC program," added Ramona Benkert, Ph.D., M.S.N., co-principal investigator of the Michigan AHEC, associate dean of Academic and Clinical Affairs and associate professor of the College of Nursing. HRSA has awarded consecutive yearly grants to Michigan AHEC since 2010.
Michigan AHEC is funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (Grant No. U77HP26582) and Wayne State University. Partners include Wayne State University's College of Nursing, School of Medicine, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and School of Social Work; Central Michigan University; Western Michigan University; Northern Michigan University; the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry; Covenant Community Care and Mid-Michigan Community Health Services.