AHEC Scholars Program: A Healthcare Fellowship

The Indiana AHEC Scholars Program is a nationally recognized, two‑year health workforce development program designed to enhance the practice readiness of health professions students who are interested in serving rural and medically underserved communities across Indiana.

The program supplements a student’s academic training through a combination of didactic education and community‑based experiential learning. AHEC Scholars participate in structured learning experiences that emphasize team‑based care, health equity and systems‑level improvement while engaging directly with communities and healthcare professionals.

• Scholars earn up to $1800 in stipends (across the program)
  • $800 – First Year
  • $1000 – Second Year
• Two-year program (160 hours total)
• 40 hours online learning (per year)
• 40 hours community based experiences (per year)
• Focus on eight (8) core topic areas
• Emphasis on rural and underserved urban communities

To participate, applicants must:

• Be enrolled in an accredited health professions or allied health program
• Be in the final two years of study
• Commit to two full program years
• Complete all required didactic and experiential hours
• Maintain reliable transportation for regional site activities
• Submit required documentation to receive stipend payments
• AHEC Scholars Program and Policies

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Programs not mentioned may still be eligible. Email the AHEC program staff to discuss program options.

• Audiologists
• Clinical Social Workers
• Dentists
• Exercise Physiology
• Nurse midwives
• Nurse practitioners
• Occupational Therapist
• Optometrists
• Pharmacists
• Physicians
• Physical Therapists
• Psychologists
• Public health Professionals
• Registered Nurses
• Speech-Language Pathologists

• Behavioral Health Integration care results from a practice team of primary care and behavioral health clinicians, working together with patients and families. This care may address mental health and substance abuse conditions, health behaviors (including their contribution to chronic medical illnesses), life stressors and crises, stress-related physical symptoms and ineffective patterns of health care utilization.
• Emerging Topics current of emerging issues in health care in Indiana e.g. such as Covid-19, Zika virus, opioid abuse, etc.
• Interprofessional Practice a coordinated, patient-centered model of health care that involves an understanding of the contributions of multiple health care professionals. Interprofessional Practice involves individuals from two or more disciplines with and from each other in effort to improve patient care.
• Practice Transformation aims to fully support quality improvement and patient-centered care. It involves goalsetting, leadership, practice facilitation, workflow changes, measuring outcomes, and adapting organizational tools and processes to support new team-based models of care delivery.
• Health Professionals aims to increase training and development of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and paraprofessionals as valuable members of the healthcare team.
• Virtual Learning and Telehealth focused on using integrated community-based experiential training to improve virtual learning and telehealth curricula.

Through participation in the AHEC Scholars Program, students:

• Strengthen readiness for workforce entry
• Gain exposure to rural and underserved health systems
• Build interprofessional collaboration skills
• Develop a deeper understanding of health equity and community health needs’
• Join a statewide and national network of AHEC Scholars dedicated to improving access to care