JD Garza is the Associate Director of the California Area Health Education Center (AHEC), hosted at UCSF Fresno, and a board member of the National AHEC Organization. His career centers on partnering with community organizations to serve medically underserved communities. 

In this episode, JD breaks down how AHEC recruits, trains, and retains health professionals for rural and underserved areas—at scale. We get into AHEC Scholars (a two-year, interdisciplinary track with community projects), clinical placements across community health centers, and why elevating CHWs, MAs, and CNAs is key. He also shares a standout youth diabetes coaching partnership, outcomes to date, and a practical burnout-prevention curriculum (“Healing from the Heart”) co-built with Hennepin Healthcare.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

• Introduction to JD Garza and AHEC
•  Overview of California AHEC
•  California AHEC Centers and Partnerships
•  AHEC Programs and Initiatives
•  AHEC Scholars Program
•  Burnout Prevention and Resiliency Program
•  Future Plans and Conclusion

Resources

• California Area Health Education Center (UCSF Fresno) 
• National AHEC Organization 
• HRSA Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program 
• Hennepin Healthcare — Institute for Professional Worklife (burnout resources)
• Stanford Youth Diabetes Coaching Program

The CSRHA has been a go-to resource for rural healthcare and community leaders since 1995. The CSRHA brings an accumulation of actionable insights to the next generation of rural healthcare leaders. 

For more behind the scenes of this podcast follow @CSRHApodcast on Twitter or @csrha.advocate on Facebook.

If you enjoy This Is Rural Health, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review, and share it with someone who needs to hear this!

Learn more about the CSRHA at csrha.org.