About Us

The Mountain Area Health Education Center is the center of excellence for improving the health of Western North Carolina. Located in Asheville, MAHEC serves healthcare professionals, students, and institutions throughout a 16-county region in Western North Carolina. Counties served are Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey. Our mission is to provide education, information, technology, research, training, and services to improve health outcomes in Western North Carolina through partnerships and neutrality.

MAHEC is often described as a pipeline for healthcare training. We connect middle and high school students to health career opportunities; we connect health science students to communities; our residency programs train the best and brightest graduates; and thousands of healthcare professionals are connected to better health through our continuing education programs.

We are a member of the North Carolina AHEC system, one of the oldest and most extensive AHEC systems in the country. The NC AHEC Program evolved in an effort to address national and state concerns with the supply, distribution, retention and quality of health professionals.

Our programs & services include:

• Continuing Education CE programs are designed to meet the education and training needs of health and human service professionals in allied health, dental health, medicine, mental health, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and leadership and management. Collaboration and the diversity of the healthcare workforce are emphasized in providing programs and services. Ongoing staff development and career counseling are provided for many disciplines. Courses and workshops are offered in a variety of formats and at a variety of times and locations allowing professionals to meet all their continuing education credit needs here in the region. Customized programs can be designed to meet the unique needs of individual healthcare agencies by bringing programs on site to agency employees. Consultation, technical assistance, and special projects to meet workforce supply and demand needs are part of our core services. In addition, MAHEC is an American Heart Association approved training site for BLS, ACLS, and PALS courses.
  
  
• Resident and Fellowship Training Top graduates of medical and dental schools from around the country come to MAHEC for training in our four fully accredited residency programs. The Ob/Gyn Residency Program aims at improving health services to women in WNC and meeting their obstetrical and gynecological needs. The program trains obstetrician/gynecologists in a four-year program and graduates four physicians per year. The goal of the Family Medicine Residency Program is to provide family physicians with comprehensive training so that they may help meet the primary care needs of WNC. The program, with locations in Asheville and Hendersonville, graduates 12 family physicians per year. The General Practice Dental Residency accepts four dentists per year for its program. It is designed to expand the scope and depth of the graduates' knowledge and skills to enable them to provide comprehensive oral healthcare to a wide range of population groups. In addition to these residency programs, we offer a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine.
  
  
• Information Technology and Distance Learning Initiatives MAHEC provides technical leadership and logistics expertise in two areas:
  1. We maintain a regional interactive videoconferencing network, known as Western North Carolina HealthLink, for telehealth applications such as distance learning and administrative meetings,
  2. We provide technical support for online course development, videoconferencing initiatives and consultation in the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) in the healthcare environment.
  
  
  
• Library and Knowledge Services Stay up to date with targeted information delivery, specialized research, expert reference and literature searching, customized document delivery services, books and audiovisuals for your education and enlightenment, and access to full-text information online via a subscription to the AHEC Digital Library. Your professional librarians facilitate access to information resources worldwide with a focus on health and wellness in Western North Carolina.
  
  
• North Carolina Center for Health and Aging

  The North Carolina Center for Health and Aging (NCCHA) is an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional center currently housed on the MAHEC campus with satellite locations on the campuses of Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The Center's mission is to promote healthy lifestyles and successful aging among all population groups.

  Initiatives include the Asheville-based Center for Health and Aging, the UNCA Center for Health and Wellness, and the Western Carolina University Health and Gerontological Sciences building. These educational institutions, with the coordinating leadership of MAHEC, work with multiple partners in the community, using the advantages of academic, clinical and community partnerships to improve the health and healthcare of the people in Western North Carolina.

  Our vision is to be a resource where people, agencies and institutions can access the education and research expertise of UNCA, WCU, and MAHEC, dialogue with others, develop a broader and fuller awareness of the opportunities for healthy living throughout the entire life cycle, and implement programs that enhance their goals and support economic development.

• Diversity Initiatives MAHEC's diversity mission acknowledges that WNC healthcare organizations and communities have the capacity to alter behaviors and attitudes that foster racism and prejudice, and to continuously develop and effectively manage a diverse healthcare workforce. We provide training and technical assistance in managing and developing workforce diversity, including recruitment and retention. Health careers and workforce development for students K-12 are promoted within our school systems. Programs include math and science enrichment programs, summer camps, mentoring, shadowing and internship opportunities.
  
  
• Clinical Services

  Direct patient care by our family physicians and mid-level providers at our Family Health Centers includes primary care for adults and children, care for the elderly, family centered obstetrics, wellness visits, laboratory services, X-rays, minor surgery, family therapy, and individual counseling.

  Direct patient care services by our obstetrician/gynecologists and mid-level providers at the Women’s Health Center and Regional OB/Gyn Specialists include general Ob/Gyn care, low-risk obstetrical care, certified nurse-midwifery services, high-risk obstetrical care provided by Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists, behavioral medicine services by licensed clinical social workers, gynecologic oncology and breast services, and reproductive endocrinology/infertility services.

  The new Dental Health Center is a state of the art facility. Patients receive comprehensive hygiene care as well as cosmetic fillings, crowns and veneers, tooth reconstruction, dentures, root canals, gum disease treatment, oral surgery and teeth whitening.