Palau Area Health Education Center

Palau Community College, Dadait Building
PO Box 8007, Korror, Republic of Palau 96940
Phone: (680)488-4900
Fax: Dial 011 and (680) 488-1211
Email: Greg Dever, MD, Executive Director, gregd@pihoa.org

Taking on the road…

The Palau AHEC activities are centered at a community health center system of 9 sites and throughout the community. It is in year 6 of existence and has an advisory board of 12 members, 9 from the community, and three from academic institutions. Dr. Greg Dever, a JABSOM trained pediatrician, is the Palau AHEC Director. The Palau AHEC has concentrated on primary care and public health training, and has provided residency training to 11 medical officer physicians (graduates of a regional Medical Officer Training Program that graduated 88 medical officers, or regional MD equivalents, from 1986 to 1996 in the Federated States of Micronesia. Fourteen Medical Officers (regional MD equivalent) signed up for residency training and 11 completed the two year clinical program. In addition, 5 gained Postgraduate Diplomas in Medicine (General Practice) from the University of Auckland and seven physicians have earned Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas in Public Health from the Fiji School of Medicine Department of Public Health (FSMed-DPH) and are on their way to Masters Degrees. The residency program accomplished its purpose and is no longer necessary, but the public health training courses were opened to other providers across the region.

The courses were adapted to “take on the road” and have been delivered in shorter periods of time by traveling Fiji School of Medicine faculty and by distance education modalities. To date 300 Micronesian physicians, nurses, environmental health workers, health administrators, and nutrition workers from Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of the Marshall Islands have enrolled in Palau AHEC-facilitated Public Health training activities conducted by the Fiji School of Medicine Department of Public Health. So far, 55 of these have received formal Undergraduate and Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas in Public Health, 39 having concentrated in Environmental Health.