KCOM AHEC |    MU AHEC |    SLU AHEC

The Missouri AHEC System is comprised of regional Centers and a host of academic health professions partners. While some of these partners collaborate only toward specific goals, three of Missouri’s medical schools are recognized as “Cooperating Schools” for their commitment to the mission and sustainability of MAHEC.

The A.T. Still University of Health Sciences/Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU/'KCOM), located in rural northeastern Missouri, is the founding partner (1988) for MAHEC, and currently serves as fiscal agent in receipt of federal and state AHEC grant awards. The University of Missouri School of Medicine (MU-SOM), located in Columbia, joined the Missouri AHEC movement in 1994 and plays an important role in the overall framework of system operations. The newest medical school partner, St. Louis University School of Medicine (SLU-SOM/2001), is critical to development of AHEC programming that is responsive to urban and culturally diverse populations.


The A.T. Still University of Health
Sciences/Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU/KCOM) AHEC Program office was established in 1988 as the first program office in the Missouri AHEC (MAHEC) network. The KCOM AHEC mission is to support and enhance KCOM's efforts to train primary care physicians and other health professionals who are well suited to practice in all communities, but especially in rural and underserved areas, and to coordinate KCOM's activities and programs with those of the participating schools and regional centers that comprise the MAHEC network.

The KCOM-AHEC Program Office collaborates with KCOM's Missouri Clinical Training Region and the regional AHECs in Missouri to identify and support clinician preceptors in high quality preceptor sites and to place students and residents in community-based training at these sites, with a special emphasis on community immersion experiences and provision of care to underserved populations. KCOM AHEC also produces and coordinates programs to educate and inform medical students about issues of healthcare access, availability, and quality as they apply to medically underserved patient populations.

KCOM AHEC Program Office Team:

Janet Head, Ed.D, RN, MS, Project Director
Michael French, Program Office Director
Jeff Suzewits, DO, MPH, AHEC Medical Director &
Assistant Dean for ATSU/KCOM Missouri Region
John Heard, PhD, Vice President, Research, Grants & Info Systems
Steve Calloway, Program Development and Data Coordinator
Mary Carpio, Executive Secretary, Clinical Education Program Administrator
Sue Foley, Clinical Education Program Administrator
Marcy Brockett, Program Assistant/Small Sites Coordinator
Kelli Partin, Administrative Coordinator-Geriatrics/AHEC

For more information about the AHEC Program Office at the ATSU/KCOM click here: www.atsu.edu/kcom/ahec/index.htm


The MU AHEC Program Office was created in 1994 to address the shortage of healthcare providers in rural areas of the state. As the state’s leading educator of physicians practicing in Missouri, MU’s School of Medicine is in a key position to improve the supply and distribution of physicians in rural Missouri. Although it cannot single-handedly solve Missouri’s rural health problems, the school does have the unique capability to bolster the physician work force. MU AHEC partners with AHEC regional training sites for its program delivery and is one of the three medical schools within the Missouri AHEC network..

MU AHEC Rural Medical Scholars Program was created to encompass three distinct but related components. The programs are designed to be sequential to provide students with ongoing exposure to rural medicine. They are the Bryant Scholars Pre-Admission Program, the Summer Community Program and the Rural Track Program.

MU AHEC Program Office Team:

Kathleen Quinn, Director-Program Office, MU AHEC
Nancy Franklin, Coordinator
Kristen Kleffner, Coordinator of Rural Health Education
Sheila Marushak, Coordinator of Rural Health Education
Weldon Webb, Director, Office of Rural Health Programs
Kevin Kane, MD, Asst. Professor, Family and Community Medicine
Brenda Klemme, Administrative Assistant
M. Kathy Brown, Bridging Manager

For more information about the AHEC Program Office at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, click here www.hsc.missouri.edu/~ahec/muahec.shtml.


The Saint Louis University (SLU) AHEC Program Office envisions a society where all members have access to quality healthcare and where there is a plentiful supply of culturally competent health professionals representative of the urban populations they serve.

Mission Statement
The SLU AHEC Program Office promotes access to quality inter-professional health care in the metropolitan St. Louis area, particularly focusing on the underserved urban areas, by:

  • Recruiting underrepresented minorities to health professions schools,
  • Encouraging and supporting completion of health professions schools by underrepresented minorities,
  • Encouraging careers in primary care and primary care related disciplines and practice in underserved areas, and
  • Improving the retention of health professionals practicing in underserved areas.

SLU AHEC Program Office Team:

David Pole, MPH, AHEC Deputy Director
Angela Brown Meadors, Program Coordinator
Leigh Tenkku, PhD, Evaluation Director
Kelly Everard, PhD, Education Coordinator

For more information about the AHEC Program Office at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, click here medschool.slu.edu//comfam.