In this episode, Jentre and Ed visit with Sanjeev Arora, the director and founder of Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Health Outcomes). He is a distinguished professor in internal medicine at the University of New Mexico and the recipient of the Heinz Award for Public Policy, Rosenthal Award, and American Telemedicine Association President’s Award. Dr. Arora was also the 2021 Laureate of the Brock Prize for Education Innovation.

Dr. Arora developed Project ECHO, which uses technology to connect underserved communities with experts in their fields of interest, creating networks for knowledge sharing, mentoring, and best practices. Started in New Mexico for one disease, Hepatitis C, ECHO now has 205 partners in 28 countries addressing over 100 key problems affecting lives and livelihoods.

Through Project ECHO, Arora has expanded his focus into other sectors, including education, in order to realize his goal of improving the lives of 1 billion people by 2025. Oklahoma State University has been key in bringing Project ECHO to Oklahoma, with ECHO lines in healthcare, mental health, and education. To learn more about how you can get involved visit the links below.

Links:

https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/

https://medicine.okstate.edu/echo/

To learn more about the Innovating Education Podcast and work of the Brock Institute, click here.