2007 Health Workforce Diversity Regional Conferences
Directors Welcome

Dear Colleague: It is our great pleasure, as the Directors of the Texas AHECs, to offer you the opportunity to participate in this innovative statewide initiative, our Regional Health Workforce Diversity Conferences. We are excited to promote our AHEC Mission in partnership with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Minority Health Research and Education Program as we present six (6) community-based conferences designed to address issues impacting our vision of an appropriately diverse, high quality healthcare workforce in Texas. Our goals in presenting these six consecutive conferences in 2007 are to

• Provide a mechanism to facilitate statewide dialogue

• Develop and sustain a collaborative, synergistic effort to promote the growth of healthcare workforce diversity

• Stimulate increased and/or improved use of established best practices

We have designed these conferences to address healthcare workforce diversity issues encountered by target audiences such as education, business and industry, and governmental agencies, as well as those issues experienced by underrepresented populations and healthcare professions. Each conference is tailored to meet specific regional needs, as well as to meet the following general goals:

• Engage multiple, diverse stakeholders from education, industry, and government;

• Increase the number of students from underrepresented groups in health-related academic programs;

• Present research on promoting diversity in health-related education;

• Provide opportunities for teachers, faculty, and/or students with similar interests to learn and discuss new ideas for promoting health-related careers, student preparation, student success, and related issues in a collegial and engaging environment;

• Foster collaboration among multiple levels of health-related education;

• Support the exchange of ideas and promote implementation of evidence-based practices from research and education for all underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged populations;

• Engage employers and representatives from business and industry, government and other entities to identify and address their issues.

We invite you to join us and successfully address these issues with your presence and your participation. We welcome your presentations and your ideas. Feel free to contact us to submit a proposal, to register, and to gather information. We look forward to meeting with you.

Cordially,

The Directors of Texas AHECs