On October 1, 2015, Jacqueline R. Wynn, MPH, began service as the president of the National AHEC Organization. Wynn, an associate director of the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program, will serve a one-year term. Wynn is also a past national president of the National Association of Medical Minority Educators, Inc. (NAMME).

The National AHEC Organization (NAO) represents a network of more than 300 AHEC program offices and centers that serve 85+% of United States counties. The NAO mission is to help its members achieve the national AHEC mission through advocacy, education, and research. The national AHEC mission is to enhance access to quality health care, particularly primary and preventive care, by improving the supply and distribution of health care professionals via strategic partnerships with academic programs, communities, and professional organizations.

In her role as president, Wynn has set goals to further the NAO mission through advocacy, leadership development, and achieving a unity of purpose nationwide. Under her leadership, the 2016 NAO Conference, titled “AHEC on the Hill: A Capitol Idea!” will take place in Washington, DC, from June 25-30, 2016.

In her NC AHEC work, Wynn is primarily responsible for the statewide implementation of health careers and minority workforce development programs and activities. Under her leadership and guidance, the statewide AHECs offered health careers and workforce development pipeline programs and activities to over 10,000 participants annually. She developed core functions for the AHECs health careers directors to include information and materials dissemination, health careers enrichment and exposure activities, ranging from a puppet show to a six-week 24/7 residential program. Cultural diversity, partnering and collaboration, and regional and statewide tracking and evaluation are additional core NC AHEC Program functions.

Additionally, Wynn serves as the primary NC AHEC liaison to the Gillings School of Global Public Health and the School of Dentistry at UNC-Chapel Hill, and to the North Carolina Health Careers Access Program, an inter-institutional program based at UNC which also works to increase the number of underrepresented individuals who are trained, educated and employed in the health professions.