North Dakotan elected to National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps Mary Amundson, assistant professor at the Center for Rural Health, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). The National Advisory Council is a body of clinicians and health care administrators who possess knowledge of underserved communities and health care implementation and improvement. She and other health care experts will advise newly appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle on issues related to implementation of NHSC and related programs. The NHSC is committed to improving the health of the nation’s underserved by providing primary care health professionals to adults and children in the communities of greatest need. Current Health and Human Services secretary Michael O. Leavitt selected Amundson for this leadership position. Prior to her current appointment, Amundson served on the National Health Service Corps Re-engineering Committee, which addresses provider placement in frontier and underserved areas. She also works with health workforce policies and programs within North Dakota. Mary Amundson is an expert in the area of recruitment and retention of health care providers, student interdisciplinary service learning programs, and access to health care in underserved and frontier areas. She speaks to local, regional and national groups on those topics and has produced several publications. She served as a member of the National Frontier Definition Committee to issue regulations defining the concept of "frontier" area. She also served on the National Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary Community-Based Linkages, which advises Congress on Title VII programs related to educational training for health professional students. Currently, she is the director of the new Area Health Education Center in North Dakota. Created in 1972, the National Health Service Corps collaborates with underserved rural areas and inner-city neighborhoods alike to develop and expand health care for underserved populations. The NHSC recruits and retains caring and culturally competent health care professionals through a combination of programs, including educational loan repayment and scholarships. -- Denis MacLeod, Communications Specialist, Center for Rural Health, dmacleod@medicine.nodak.edu, 701-777-3300