About Us
South Carolina Coalitions for Health Careers
The four regional, community-based coalitions were established in 2005 with funding from The Duke Endowment. The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate communication and coordination of effort leading to an increase in the number of minority students across the state who choose careers in health care.
The overarching goal of the South Carolina Coalitions for Health Careers is to increase the number of South Carolina minority students who enter the health professions pipeline. The five strategies identified as focus areas for this program are:
- Parental involvement
- Student motivation
- Academic achievement
- Community awareness
- Public policy
Coalition Leadership
Lowcountry Coalition for Health Careers
Co-Chairs:- Camille Nairn
Director, Healthy Communities USC Salkehatchie - Toni Rehkop
Beaufort Memorial Hospital
Mid-Carolina Coalition for Health Careers
Co-Chairs:- Michael Brown
Director, Access & Equity Programs South Carolina Commission on Higher Education - Diane Melton, RN, BSN
Instructor, Health Sciences Education Ridgeview High - Donna Plunkett
Coordinator, Workforce Development Sisters of Charity Providence Hospital
Pee Dee Coalition for Health Careers
Co-Chairs:- Barbara Brown, RN, BSN
Instructor, Health Sciences Education Darlington County Institute of Technology - Howard Wilkes
Guidance Department Florence Career Center
Upstate Coalition for Health Careers
Co-Chairs:- Linda Gilbert
Program Coordinator, ACUMEN Clemson University - Lora Finch
Carolina High School and Academy - Jacqueline Williams
Counselor, Brashier Campus Greenville Technical College
The Duke Endowment
The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke. The Endowment's mission is to serve the people of North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare, and spiritual life. Through its Health Care Division, The Duke Endowment carries out Mr. Duke's wishes regarding support for not-for-profit health care organizations in North Carolina and South Carolina. Funding from The Duke Endowment was used to help develop this website.
South Carolina AHEC
The South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (South Carolina AHEC) began in 1972 as one of the 11 originally funded projects of the federal AHEC program. The South Carolina AHEC is a collaborative effort of the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina, South Carolina’s community teaching hospitals, and four regional AHEC Centers. We have successfully grown into a system that works closely with the state’s institutions of higher education and other partners to educate, recruit, and retain health care professionals.
The South Carolina AHEC provides for a continuum of education extending from primary and secondary school, to undergraduate and professional school, to graduate medical education, and finally to continuing education for practicing health care professionals. Specifically, we offer programs designed to: increase the number of young people who aspire to become health care professionals, emphasizing underrepresented ethnic minority groups and the economically disadvantaged; facilitate clinical rotations for health professions students in rural and underserved areas; increase the physician workforce by sponsoring graduate medical education residency training programs; enhance clinical competence by providing educational programs for health care providers at or near their workplace; and increase the healthcare workforce by maintaining programs to recruit and retain primary care providers.
Additional information regarding South Carolina AHEC, its Health Careers Program and other initiatives may be found at www.scahec.net.
South Carolina AHEC Centers
- Program Office www.scahec.net
- Lowcountry AHEC www.lcahec.com
- Mid-Carolina AHEC www.midcarolinaahec.org
- Pee Dee AHEC www.peedeeahec.org
- Upstate AHEC www.upstateahec.org
