Upstate AHEC Announces Departure of Fay Brown, Opens Executive Director Position

Upstate AHEC Executive Director Fay Brown will be stepping down this spring after nearly five years of service to the AHEC system. During her time as executive director, Fay has guided Upstate AHEC to many notable accomplishments.

Although the introduction of online continuing education capability was initiated by Candace Luciano, the former Upstate AHEC Center Director, Fay shepherded an era of unprecedented access through the AHEC U platform to quality online enduring professional development opportunities. AHEC U saw a 35 percent increase in participation during this past year alone.

Fay was also instrumental in designing and overseeing the acquisition of the new Upstate AHEC office building and its state-of-the-art classroom. She also facilitated the involvement of the South Carolina AHEC in the introduction and implementation of the DHHS-sponsored Community Health Worker Program.

Fay and her husband will be returning to her hometown of Nashville so they can be closer to their daughter and her family. Fay has been an integral member of our South Carolina AHEC family and will be missed!

Executive Director Position Now Open

With Fay’s departure, the Upstate Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a 501c3 healthcare-related organization located in Greenville, SC, seeks an experienced and innovative executive director with proven leadership skills in program growth and development, strategic planning, and personnel and financial management. Ideal candidates will have knowledge of the healthcare field and a minimum of five years' experience in non-profit or corporate management, a minimum of a master's degree or equivalent experience in executive management, healthcare or a related field (for a full position description, click here). Candidates should submit a resumé, cover letter and three professional references, with at least one from a former supervisor.

Email application materials to fbrown@upstateahec.org no later than March 4. No phone calls please. Applications will be considered when submitted and the position may be filled prior to the deadline date.

Marchek Siblings Stay Connected With Upstate AHEC Through Academic Journey

A pair of siblings from Greer are giving back to current Upstate AHEC Health Careers students after completing the program themselves. Alex Marchek, MD is in his first year as a family medicine resident at Prisma Health Seneca. His younger sister by two years, Anna Marchek, is a second-year medical student at Edward Via College of Medicine (VCOM) Carolinas. “My mom likes to say she did good,” Anna joked. “Both of her kids are going to be doctors. She went two-for-two.” Anna (left) and Alex (right) Marchek are pictured with Nita Donald, Executive Director of Upstate AHEC. While Alex and Anna have both chosen to pursue medicine as a career, their interest in healthcare developed differently. Alex describes his discovery of health sciences as a slow realization. “It was definitely something that was on my radar really young,” said Alex. “My parents will say when I was six years old, I was talking about doing something in medicine. I had some really great science teachers in elementar...

Pee Dee AHEC Clinical Placements Help Students See Challenges – and Opportunities – of Rural Primary Care

Third-year medical student Omar Guerrero didn’t find his passion for a career in healthcare until he began shadowing health professionals as an undergraduate student. “I just knew that I really loved science and working with my hands,” said Guerrero, who double-majored in Public Health and Cellular & Molecular Biology while at the University of South Florida. It all clicked for him once he was able to observe physicians in their encounters with patients. “I saw there was a real need for Spanish-speaking physicians,” said Guerrero. “There’s a lot of disconnect between providers and Spanish-speaking patients and I thought that was definitely an area that I could make a difference in.” Now in his third year at A.T. Still University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, Guerrero is doing a clinical placement at Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. in Richland. Guerrero was connected with Pee Dee AHEC and their Health Professions Student (HPS) program...

Simulation Training Prepares Students for Rural Primary Care

Since its inception in 2021, South Carolina AHEC’s Simulation Education Training (SET) has remained a favorite experience amongst health professions students statewide. Pee Dee AHEC Scholars and other health professions students pose for the camera during a simulation Since its inception in 2021, South Carolina AHEC’s Simulation Education Training (SET) has remained a favorite experience amongst health professions students statewide. SET uses simulation-based technology to expose students to clinical environments and scenarios that mirror what providers experience in rural, medically-underserved communities. “A lot of simulations are emergent or hospital-based and students are usually being graded as a formal assessment when they participate,” said SC AHEC Curriculum Coordinator Dawn Leberknight, who was heavily involved in the development of the initiative. “We tried to make [SET] more informal to expose students to simulations before it’s high stakes, and then to really focus on rura...

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