• Designation as a Vermont AHEC Scholar, a nationally recognized distinction:
  • List on C.V. section “Honors and Awards”
  • At Commencement, pins, and gold and white cords are worn by students who earned the AHEC Scholar distinction
  • An achievement to discuss in residency program and job interviews to differentiate from other applicants
• Enhance educational experience by engaging with those who live in rural communities
• Gain a deeper understanding of communities through opportunities to hear from and interact with providers, policy makers, community leaders, and others
• Gain experience and competencies in interprofessional care

1. Interprofessional Education/Interprofessional Practice: team-based care delivery, patient-centered care, effective teamwork
2. Behavioral Health Integration: services that better address the needs of individuals with mental health and substance use conditions, including training for health professionals to address burnout and resiliency
3. Connecting Communities and Supporting Health Professionals/Community Health Workers (CHWs): increase training and development of paraprofessionals who serve as connectors between health professionals and the community
4. Virtual Learning and Telehealth: leverage technology to improve curricula and community-based experiential training
5. Social Determinants of Health: economic stability, education, social and community context, health and health care, neighborhood and built environment
6. Cultural Competency: recognize and address the unique culture and health literacy of consumers and communities
7. Medical Practice Transformation: quality improvement, care coordination, cost containment, rural healthcare, primary care, patient-centered care, team-based care
8. Current and Emerging Health Issues: opioids and substance use disorders, oral health as part of overall health, oral health integration, COVID-19

Program duration must cover at least two years, with each year including 40-hours of eligible didactic education and 40-hours of eligible experiential or clinical training, for a total of 160-hours of eligible activities. VT AHEC offers a “flexible pathways” approach to meet the AHEC Scholars requirements. Only those students completing all requirements will be designated as “Vermont AHEC Scholars” at time of graduation.

Click here for VT AHEC Scholars Program Overview

Not enrolled? Current Larner College of Medicine students may enroll using the AHEC Scholars program enrollment form (PDF). Please return it to Patti Smith Urie at patti.smith-urie@uvm.edu using the secure UVM File Transfer Service.

Note: AHEC Scholars enrollees are part of AHEC’s workforce development research. Stipends may be available to participants for certain AHEC activities. If a stipend is offered, it is a taxable transaction for income tax purposes and a 1099 Form will be issued for tax purposes.

Summer projects information session coming January 21, 2026 

Larner College of Medicine students from the class of 2029 will be invited to apply. The summer program is an 80-hour pathway activity that meets requirements for one year of AHEC Scholars activity.

Questions about AHEC Scholars or the AHEC Scholars Summer Program can be directed to Patti S. Urie at patti.smith-urie@uvm.edu.

View selected AHEC projects in UVM Scholarworks

• Application opens January 21, 2026 and will close on February 18, 2026. Students will be notified in early March.
• A common application is used to apply to summer projects hosted by three organizations: UVM AHEC, Northern VT AHEC, and Southern VT AHEC.
• Projects are typically 100 hours (40 didactic hours and 60 field-based/project-specific hours)
• $2,000 stipend.
• This is a competitive process with limited enrollment capacity. Decisions are based on the best match for each program.

Summer projects fall into one of two tracks: Research and Quality Improvement or Mentoring and Education.

All projects will link to one or more AHEC focus areas:

• Interprofessional Education/Interprofessional Practice
• Behavioral Health Integration
• Connecting Communities and Supporting Health Professionals (CHWs)
• Virtual Learning and Telehealth
• Social Determinants of Health
• Cultural Competency
• Medical Practice Transformation
• Current and Emerging Health Issues (Opioids and Substance Use Disorders, Oral Health as part of Overall Health, COVID-19)

5 Community Agency partnerships - 40 volunteer hours

Current partnerships include:

• Association of Africans Living in Vermont
• Mercy Connections Justice, Mentoring and Reentry
• The Janet S. Munt Family Room
• Feeding Champlain Valley
• Champlain Valley Head Start

This 80-hour program is an AHEC Scholars eligible activity. It consists of 40 hours of didactic activities and 40 hours of field/community-based activities. Larner medical students may participate in the program in their second, third or fourth year at LCOM. This is a selective application process. A limited number of students are selected based on the volunteer needs of the partnering community agencies, as well as program capacity and strength of the student application.

Students are asked to read the program overview and options before completing the application.

Click here for program overviewClick here to apply

For general program questions please email Patti Smith Urie, Outreach Professional, AHEC Scholars: Patti.Smith-Urie@med.uvm.edu

The Education and Mentoring pathway is an AHEC Scholars eligible activity that can be completed by Larner medical students in their first or second year at LCOM. The program includes 40 didactic hours and at least 40 field hours. To meet AHEC Scholars requirements, the 80 hours must be completed within the same academic year (August – May).

Participating students complete 40 field hours as a member of the HERO SIG or Med Mentors SIG.

The 40-hour didactic curriculum is titled Cross-Cultural Encounters in Mentoring and Patient Care and is led by Nicole LaPointe, MSW, EdD, Executive Director for Northern Vermont AHEC.

HERO SIG

The HERO Mentoring SIG was established to support under-represented high school students by exposing them to health science and careers. It is comprised of one-to-one mentoring activities with high school students led by Northern Vermont AHEC. By working with the HERO Mentoring Program, the HERO Mentoring SIG provides Vermont teens with firsthand experiences in health science through connection with medical student mentors. Meaningful interactions between mentors and mentees help youth gauge if a career in health or medicine would be right for them. Mentees are able to ask questions and engage their curiosity through online modules and one-to-one mentoring. The program consists of eight structured modules (75 minutes each) conducted in sequence from October through December. HERO is a structured program with time commitment of 40 didactic training hours and a minimum of 40 mentoring field hours.

Student Leaders: Tsering Sherpa Ngima and Jessica Gagne (Class of 2028) AHEC Advisor: Nicole LaPointe, Northern Vermont AHEC LCOM Faculty Advisor: Anne Morris, MD

Med Mentors SIG

The Med Mentors SIG provides mentoring and medical education opportunities for undergraduate students at UVM and other Vermont universities, and students in LCOM Masters in Medical Science and UVM Post-Bacc Pre-Med Program. Med Mentors is a student-led organization that aims to encourage and support students interested in pursuing careers in medicine or other health care fields.  In collaboration with the Vermont AHEC Network, we provide one-on-one matching between medical students and pre-health students in addition to group opportunities, such as panels and skills clinics. Recognizing the importance of diversity in medicine, mentors support and encourage students at all stages of their journey - from early exploration of a possible career in medicine to all aspects of the application process. Mentors and mentees are matched based on answers to a survey that asks which factors they feel are important to the match, including shared experiences, backgrounds or identity. Email medmentors@med.uvm.edu to learn more.

This SIG welcomes LCOM members with all levels of interest and time commitment - there is the opportunity to mentor just a little as well as the chance to complete the 40 mentoring hours needed to complete the AHEC Scholars Education and Mentoring SIG 80-hour pathway.

Student Leaders: Sanjna Chalasani, Zachary Hart and Alison Yong (Class of 2028)
AHEC Faculty: Anne Morris, MD AHEC Advisor: Patti Smith Urie