2006 Ambassadors Recognized | home

Please know that since the last conference, we have made every opportunity to highlight your successes to your colleagues and will continue to do so.  You have shared with us many unique strategies and collaborations you have been involved in to recruit and support students and clinicians to serve the underserved since last year’s meeting   I would like to recognize some of the unique stories that make a difference to the Ambassadors program.

• David Pole, from Saint Louis University, developed an NHSC field strength map in Missouri to show students where the need was in the state of Missouri and how the NHSC helped to fill the need.   He has used this as a recruitment tool for those students that are interested in opportunities in the Missouri area.

• Three Ambassadors from University of Louisville (Lee Mayer, School of Dentistry, Margaret Mahaffey, School of Medicine, and Lee Ridner, School of Nursing) held an NHSC day on campus in January together, holding continuous sessions on the NHSC at all the Schools to inform students about our opportunities.  This was truly unique because all three Schools came together to focus in on the mission of the NHSC. 

• Neil Monteiro, a new community-based Ambassador at Rushville Health Center in New York, has participated in a number of job fairs at various undergraduate universities in the western New York area, spreading the word about the NHSC to prospective candidates at the baccalaureate level.  He has been to Roberts Wesleyan College, St. John Fisher College, and Finger Lakes College.  His goal for the fall is to try and make contacts at the University of Buffalo and University of Rochester, and to attend a couple of job fairs this fall. This is very helpful because we need to reach students earlier in their training.

• Mary Amundson, from the University of North Dakota, School of Medicine, fits most things she does into the Ambassador hat–providing technical assistance and workshops for communities on all aspects of recruitment and retention; working with students to inform them or opportunities to serve the underserved, promoting the loan and scholarship programs, supporting students in their various student organizations and working to promote National Primary Care Week.  Mary is the director of the ND SEARCH program, director of our Health Workforce Tracking program, facilitator for the medical school’s patient-centered learning curriculum, and will be a trainer for the mental health first aid program.

• Rebecca Landau, Ambassador at the Oregon Health Sciences University. School Medicine, created her own Ambassador business cards to promote herself to students, other health care professionals, and faculty.

• Ambassador Jane Martin, from the Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing, Samford University, and Charae Farmer-Dixon, Meharry School of Dentistry, are currently serving as a NHSC National Advisory Council member. The National Advisory Council advises the HRSA Administrator on issues pertaining to the NHSC.  The Council is a group of individuals who possess knowledge of health professional workforce distribution, underserved communities, and health care implementation and improvement.  

• Bruce Gould, Ambassador at the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine, is furthering the NSHC mission of improving the health of the Nation’s underserved by developing a national program to create state-based youth service corps that expose students to careers in service to the underserved.

• Brad Powers, an Ambassador at Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, has taken a leadership role in recruiting more contacts at Schools of Psychology to become Ambassadors.  He developed materials to describe his Ambassador role to others and is working with the American Psychological Association to spread the word about the Ambassador program. Brad’s students have also developed a recruitment video for psychologists.

These are just a few examples of the great work you are doing. Continue to share your successes with us, your challenges, your needs, and your requests.  We will do our very best to support you and your efforts.  We thank each of you for conducting these volunteer Ambassador activities by blending your professional responsibilities with your volunteer role as an Ambassador in the areas of recruitment, preparation and training, mentoring, and advocating for primary care careers in service to the underserved.