Ann Lefebvre Selected as Next South Carolina AHEC Executive Director

It is with great pleasure that South Carolina AHEC announces its next executive director, Ann Lefebvre, MSW, CPHQ. Ann succeeds Dr. David Garr, who is retiring after more than 15 years leading the South Carolina AHEC program.

Ann comes to the South Carolina AHEC with extensive experience as the associate director of the North Carolina AHEC program. She has leadership experience in strategic planning methods and the incorporation of new programs into an existing organization’s infrastructure. She has been directing the North Carolina Practice Support Program, a statewide, quality improvement initiative serving primary care practices with a focus on improving clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. This program has been recognized nationally as a model for practice facilitation and coaching. Ann has helped secure more than $35 million in federal, state and philanthropic funds and has championed the use of technology in the provision of clinical care. She has collaborated and consulted with state and federal agencies and academic health systems to advance population health and respond to evolving health care needs.

Ann received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Hearing Handicapped Education from Plattsburgh State University and a Master of Social Work from East Carolina University. She has a faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Ann will join the South Carolina AHEC Program Office on November 19. Please join us in welcoming her to our state, our communities and our South Carolina AHEC System.

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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