‘Blazing a New Pathway’ focuses on creative new training and outreach programs to bolster Allied Health and nursing professions

A live chat hosted by the Vanderbilt Health ‘DNA’ podcast on Jan. 31 will explore how educators throughout Nashville are collaborating on novel training programs. These programs find local solutions to the shortage of health care workers and the high cost of higher education.

Hear Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Peggy Valentine, EdD, Vice President of Allied Health Education, and Mamie Williams, PhD, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC, senior director of Nurse Diversity and Inclusion, discuss new outreach and training programs with their peers from partner institutions: Metro Nashville Public Schools, Nashville State Community College, and Tennessee State University. Recent graduates of the medical assistance training program will also share their perspectives.

Listen to the ‘Blazing a New Pathway’ streaming conversation and participate in the Q&A at 10:30 a.m. CT on Jan. 31. The conversation will be recorded and released as a producer’s cut podcast episode in the spring.

Allied health professionals are essential to patient care, providing services in areas such as medical assistants, laboratory technology and surgical support. However, a growing shortage of these professionals and nurses has left health care organizations nationwide grappling with staffing challenges that directly impact patient care.

The live chat is a spinoff of a Season 4 episode, Blazing a New Pathway: A Bold Blueprint to Foster Upskilling, Reskilling and Future Colleagues. The episode explores how to fill critical workforce shortages while promoting the stability of health care professions, increasing job satisfaction, and fostering the next generation of workers in the greater Nashville region. “Blazing a New Pathway” has been downloaded thousands of times.

The fourth season of VUMC’s award-winning podcast, Discoveries in Action, delves into how the future of tech, economic and cultural elements are shaping medicine, work and well-being.