Medical Education

Mission Medical Associates (MMA) physicians have access to extensive local and regional educational opportunities and training resources.

Physician Leadership
MMA believes that strong physician leadership is critical to the success of any health system and recognizes that often the skills needed for effective physician leadership are not taught in medical school. Our group has a Physician Leadership Council, which as of fall 2010 will become a peer-elected team charged with helping to forge the future of MMA, drive quality initiatives and assist Mission Health System in cost-efficient process improvement. Physicians who are members of this council will have an opportunity to participate in a new Physician Leadership Academy, which will:

• Train key physician leaders in LEAN Six Sigma
• Establish a core curriculum of physician leadership classes in areas such healthcare finance, basic healthcare law, ethical challenges, budgeting, crucial confrontations in medical management, basics of governance and management, and system-wide approaches to quality improvement.

Mountain Area Health Education Center
Mission Health System also enjoys close collaboration with the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), an organization recognized as a center of excellence for improving the health of Western North Carolina. Based in Asheville, MAHEC serves healthcare professionals, students and institutions throughout a 16-county region. Its mission is to provide education, information, technology, research, training and services to improve health outcomes in Western North Carolina through partnerships and neutrality.

Residencies and Fellowships: MAHEC's residency programs combine the warmth of a community hospital setting with the resources of a university medical education center. Residences are available in family medicine, dentistry, pharmacotherapy and OB-GYN. A fellowship program is offered in geriatrics.

CME and CE: Continuing education is offered on an array of topics to meet the needs of health and human service professionals in allied health, dental health, medicine, mental health, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and leadership and management. MAHEC is an accredited sponsor of CME for physicians in the region and surrounding areas.

For more information or to view upcoming educational events, visit: www.mahec.net.

UNC Collaboration
Mission Health System has a long-standing relationship with the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. Mission Hospital now serves as a branch campus of the UNC School of Medicine and provides the clinical education for third- and fourth-year medical students. Building on the success of an established collaborative pharmacy residency program, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy will be establishing a School of Pharmacy branch campus with 40 students per year in Asheville starting in September 2011. The school will be housed on the UNC Asheville campus, and the clinical rotations will occur at Mission Hospital.