Skip to main content

Part of UT Health San Antonio

UT Health San Antonio ResearchUT Health San Antonio Research

Research

Part of UT Health San Antonio

Give

Researcher Quicklinks

Institutional Core Labs

  • iLabs
  • Bioanalytics & Single-Cell
  • Biospecimen and Translational Genomics
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Mass Spectometry
  • Optical Imaging
  • Structural Biology (NMR)
  • Structural Biology (X-Ray Crystallography)

Find a Researcher

  • Profiles

Research by School

  • Long School of Medicine
  • School of Dentistry
  • School of Health Professions
  • School of Nursing

Software Training & Cyberinfrastructure

  • VPR IT

Additional Resources

  • Environmental Health & Safety
  • National Academy of Inventors
  • Office of Technology Commercialization
  • Postdoc Positions
  • Report A Discovery
  • Research Directory
  • San Antonio Bioscience Research
  • San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics
  • Spotlight on Research Integrity

Close Quicklinks

Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Research Areas
  • Researchers
  • Clinical Trials
  • VPR Resources
  • Collaborations

You are here

  • Home
  • Stories
  • Training the Trainer to Increase Health Care Access

Training the Trainer to Increase Health Care Access

September 17, 2020

Dr. Waridibo Allison

Her first medical school application was unsuccessful, but Dr. Wari Allison, MD, PhD says she knows now what she did not know back then - that failure is an opportunity to learn.

She pressed on eventually receiving her medical degree, a doctorate in public health and specialty board certification in internal medicine and infectious disease. Her studies took her across the world and eventually to San Antonio where she is an assistant professor of infectious disease at UT Health San Antonio, director of the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) program, and medical director at the San Antonio AIDS Foundation.

“I was inspired by my father, a U.N. diplomat. I told him I wanted to be a doctor someday, and he took me to refugee camps and the Doctors Without Borders compound to see doctors there,” she reminisced, “And, that was one of my first experiences understanding how important health care access is.”

Building on these experiences, Dr. Allison has championed Project ECHO at UT Heath, in collaboration with the ReACH Center and local partners such as the South Texas Area Health Education Center. The focus of this program is to train providers via telementoring through guided practice and shared learning and increase access to health care for underserved communities. UT Health San Antonio ECHO program features communities of practice and learning across a range of health care needs including treatments for opioid use disorders, HIV, Hepatitis C, Chagas disease and telemedicine technical assistance.

The success of this regional effort has now culminated in a $3 million grant, the only award given by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to establish a Rural Telementoring Training Center. Through national and local collaborations, the center will provide training to centers of excellence and academic medical institutions while evaluating various models for telementoring.

“The models we are using, like Project ECHO, are not new. What is new is understanding how different models work in different areas for different populations and developing these as best practices to help others create these programs,” she said.

The goal is to establish evidence-based national standards in telementoring. Outreach efforts for the programwill include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, community health workers and other rural health care workers. Attention will be paid to those with medical specialty experience. Casting a wide net is critical to address the workforce shortage in rural areas where there are 39 physicians to every 1,000 people compared to 53 to every 1,000 people in urban areas. Reaching out to a variety of health care workers will expand access in these geographically isolated areas.

A key component of the grant is adapting community health clubs (CHC) for health care providers. Typically, CHCs are used in community settings where members share with researchers key health areas they want to focus on improving. Working with CHC expert Jason Rosenfield, Ph.D., assistant director for global health at the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics, the project will innovate these clubs by adding a telementoring format, utilizing them as a forum for peer to peer learning and support for rural health care workers.

“I am passionate about health care access for marginalized people,” Dr. Allison shared, “That’s what led me to public health research and integrating telemedicine into my medical practice where I treat people living with HIV. Access is limited without knowledgeable providers equipped with a toolbox of strategies for reaching their communities. We are excited to kick off the projectthis month!”

Planning for the project began on September 1st and will continue over the course of the next three years.

HRSA Rural Telementoring Program

State & National Partners UT Health Partners

Oklahoma State University

University of New Mexico

Cardea Service

National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health – NOSORH

Area Health Education Center –AHEC

Texas Department of State Health Services –TX DSHS

The Center for Research to Advance Community Health (ReACH)

The UT Health San Antonio South Central AIDS Education Training Center (AETC)

The Institute for Integration of Medicine and Science (IIMS)

The South Texas Oral Health Network (STOHN)

 

Categories:  Engagement & Outreach; Resources & Services; Training & Funding

The VPR Newsletter

The latest in research discovery, innovation and resources.

Read related stories

  • History of PTEF

    Announcing the President’s Translational and Entrepreneurial Research Fund 2020 Awards

  • CT Day Collage

    Proyecto Voces (Project Voices): Tu Voz Puede Ayudar a Inmigrantes Latinxs

  • CT Day Collage

    Proyecto Voces (Project Voices): Use Your Voice to Help Latinx Immigrants

Share this story

Map image of UT Health San Antonio location

UT Health San Antonio

8403 Floyd Curl Dr
San Antonio, TX 78229

210-567-7000
vpr@uthscsa.edu

Connect with us

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Linked In
  • Facebook
  • Job Opportunities
  • Research Directory
  • Mission Magazine
  • Our Newsletter
  • Give a Donation

We make lives better ®

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also called UT Health San Antonio, is a leading academic health center with a mission to make lives better through excellence in advanced academics, life-saving research and comprehensive clinical care including health, dental and cancer services.

Web Privacy | Links from websites affiliated with UT Health's website (uthscsa.edu) to other websites do not constitute or imply university endorsement of those sites, their content, or products and services associated with those sites. The content on this website is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Health information on this site is not meant to be used to diagnose or treat conditions. Consult a health care provider if you are in need of treatment.