Skip to main content

A Message from the Executive Director


This is often the time of year for reflection and gratitude. I want to take this moment to let you know that I am excited to join the SC AHEC Program and I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of such an impressive organization. The dedication of our statewide team to meet the needs of the current and future healthcare workforce is palpable and I am looking forward to jumping right in along with you to meet the needs of students and health professionals across South Carolina. In my short time here, I have already crossed paths with health professionals in our state with stories of how our program influenced or supported their decisions while they were in high school or young in their studies in a health profession. 

In the upcoming months, I plan to spend a good deal of time traveling the state to visit the regional AHEC centers, meeting with our AHEC staff and our local, regional and statewide partner organizations to learn even more about the great work that we do to serve our crucial role in this state. Our AHEC team and our strong partnerships are our greatest assets. You know the needs of the students and professionals within your region and I hope that you will help me to learn from you about how we can continue to grow our provision of high-quality programs and services.

I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve the state of South Carolina through our work at AHEC. I am excited about embarking on this journey with all of you because together, we are a powerful force for supporting healthcare professionals as we help them to improve care, address cost and apply a patient centered approach that can enrich their lives and the people they serve.

Ann Lefebvre, MSW, CPHQ
SC AHEC Executive Director

Popular posts from this blog

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...

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...

We've Got a New Logo

Today, South Carolina AHEC is unveiling a fresh new look – beginning with our logo and part of a broader update to how SC AHEC presents itself visually. We’re proud of the brand identity we’ve developed over the years and know many have come to recognize and are familiar with our organization as a result. So why change it? Simply put: it was time. First, our previous logo has been in place almost 10 years (since 2016). It served us and its purpose well, but over time things evolve naturally, and so have we.  One of the biggest challenges all AHECs share in communicating who we are is our name. This has been an obstacle in explaining AHEC’s mission since the program was established and funded by Congress in 1972: What the heck even is an “AHEC”? Our name can be unclear, even when the acronym is fully spelled out: Area Heath Education Consortium. Looking at our last logo – someone unfamiliar with us would have no idea what it is we do or what our organization is about at first encoun...