AHEC-NW Director Confident On Future Programs, Projects

The future is bright for the students and faculty of Northwest Arkansas Area Health Education Center.

The expansion of existing programs and addition of new medical programs such as the Medical Reserve Corps training program have helped AHEC-NW continue to meet the medical education needs of residents in Northwest Arkansas.

The center, which has a $9 million operating budget for 2007, is funded through a combination of federal and state funds and professional fees.

Dr. Robert Gullett Jr. began as the center’s new director in April 2006. He replaced Rick Guyton, who resigned amidst scandalous accounting errors in June 2005.

“The problems in the past are totally, 100 percent resolved,” Gullett said. “We are now operating on a surplus and things are going great.”

During Gullett’s 15-month tenure, AHEC-NW has continued to grow and many new programs and projects are in the works.

In 2006, AHEC-NW graduated nine students from the family medicine residency program and conferred seven students with their associate of science degrees through the radiological technology program and three students with their bachelor of science degrees through the diagnostic medical sonography program.

Many of the recent graduates have filled positions in Northwest Arkansas.

As the demand for education programs grow, staff at the Fayetteville AHEC-NW offices also continues to increase.

On Oct. 1, B.J. Roberts, who was previously employed by the Conway Regional Medical Center, filled the center’s vacant associate director position.

Dr. Peter Kohler has also come on board with the center and now serves as the vice chancellor for University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for UAMS-NW.

The center’s partnership with UAMS has helped it to further expand its courses and programs in Northwest Arkansas.

Gullett and Kohler are currently using the partnership to establish the first satellite education campus for the Little Rock-based UAMS.

The facility, which is planned to open in 2011, will house a variety of medical student residency programs, along with the University of Arkansas College of Nursing.

“Northwest Arkansas was chosen as the first satellite location for UAMS because of the population and economic growth and the good hospitals in the area,” Gullett said.

The new campus will allow AHEC-NW to expand its residency programs, a step Gullett said is time consuming but worth the work.

“I am working on a sports medicine fellowship program,” Gullett said. “With so many young athletes the need is there and we have everything we need with the university down the road. I would also like to see a geriatric residency program started. With the tsunami of baby boomers that will be requiring medical care in the future, the program is greatly needed.”

Gullett is also working to establish the first in-patient psychiatric facility in Northwest Arkansas. The 28-bed facility, which will be housed at the Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, is “sorely needed in the area.”

“We are constantly working to meet the medical needs of the area,” Gullett said. “We are using a lot of different technologies to connect our students to programs and professionals throughout the state and we are also using that technology to help connect our patients with some of most well-trained physicians in the state.”