GNAHEC coordinates clinical training opportunities at community-based sites for students who are enrolled in a health professions training program. The AHEC sites bring health disparities to life for students, who see first-hand the needs of uninsured and underinsured patients. Last year alone almost 900 health professions students were trained throughout our five counties to expose them to the rewards and challenges of working with the medically underserved – and possibly influence their career decisions. Research shows that health profession students who rotate through medically underserved sites are more likely to return to those communities to practice. These students provided more than 185,000 hours of care to an estimated 300,000 patients, much of it in the state’s community/migrant health centers, health departments, rural health clinics and other sites serving the medically needy.