Established nearly five decades ago, MAHEC – Mountain Area Health Education Center – is a leader in healthcare, education, and innovation. Headquartered in Asheville with satellite offices in various locations across its 16-county Western North Carolina (WNC) service area, MAHEC is the largest of nine Area Health Education Centers in North Carolina. With more than 1,100 employees we are the largest non-profit in WNC.

Our mission is to recruit, train and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina, with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources.

MAHEC trains physicians and dentists to provide evidence-based patient-centered compassionate healthcare. Our UNC-appointed faculty physicians and dentists are dedicated mentors, community health advocates, and compassionate physicians. The faculty and residents provide care in family medicine, internal medicine, ob/gyn, dental, and psychiatric care through more than 179,000 annual patient visits.

Last year, MAHEC had over 98,000 continuing professional development participants in a variety of health professions from across WNC and the nation in attendance at over 700 educational programs.

MAHEC’s 14-acre Biltmore campus is also home to UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, an academic health center in partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill that includes programs from the UNC School of Medicine, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and UNC Adams School of Dentistry. A private, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, MAHEC will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. For more information, visit mahec.net.