PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES
Live Healthy OC Initiative
AHEC & Health Scholars Program
The California AHEC Program, a thirty-eight year old organization of partnerships, brings together community and academic interests to improve access to health care and decrease health disparities for all Californians. AHEC develops, with its partners, a population-based approach to health professions education with a special emphasis on community-based training. Supported by HRSA grant U77HP03015 and the state of California, the AHEC Program accomplishes its mission through a network of thirteen AHEC centers, each located in an underserved area and affiliated with, but separate from a health professions school. All of the AHEC centers are independent community organizations; each governed by an advisory board and strategically located throughout the state. Because of the emphasis on community-based training, the California AHEC is closely affiliated with community health centers with eleven of the thirteen AHEC centers sponsored by community clinic consortia or large clinic systems. For more information about AHEC, please visit https://www.cal-ahec.org/index.htm.
The Orange County Area Health Education Center (AHEC) is hosted by the Coalition.
Health Scholars Program
Established in 2012, the Health Scholars Program (HSP) was founded to provide a quality, individually tailored, clinical experience for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students with a passion to pursue a health career in an underserved community. Only 3 years later, The HSP has 90 members, eight community partner projects, a direct relationship with the UC Irvine School of Medicine with five faculty members providing direct in kind support, a growing pool of over 100 applicants/year, and a reputation for committed, reliable, passionate, and academically competitive student members.