North Carolina Health Careers Access Program.

The North Carolina Health Careers Access Program (NC-HCAP) was established at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971 through the efforts of Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Cecil G. Sheps. The program, known as the North Carolina Health Manpower Development Program (NC-HMDP) until 1990, sought to increase the number of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who were educated and employed in the health professions and, thus, to ease the shortage of healthcare workers in rural, inner-city, poor, and minority communities throughout North Carolina. The program provided a variety of resources for pre-college and college students to attract them to the health care field and prepare them for health professions education programs. Though it was based administratively at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Health Manpower Development Program was an inter-institutional program of the University of North Carolina System. By 1976, affiliated health careers centers had been established at Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Central University, and Pembroke State University (later the University of North Carolina at Pembroke). The North Carolina Health Careers Access Program also worked closely with the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC).