Dr. Joseph Scaletti has devoted over 40 years to improving the quality of healthcare and health education in New Mexico. One of the original founders of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, founding director of Allied Health Sciences (now Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medicine), he also served 4 years as chairperson of the department of Microbiology and 8 years as the University of New Mexico's Vice President for Research. As chairperson of House Joint Memorial 13, he was instrumental in establishing the first telehealth and telemedicine programs at the School of Medicine. His Rural Interdisciplinary Health Education program, funded through HRSA grants from 1990-2003, established problem-based learning teams comprised of students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, allied health and other health-related disciplines to study and work at clinics in rural communities throughout New Mexico. During this period of time, Dr. Scaletti served a 5 year term on the HRSA federal advisory committee on rural health issues. Dr. Scaletti co-authored the original AHRQ grant for Project ECHO with Dr. Sanjeev Arora. His current role at ECHO is to continue to seek new partnerships and funding sources to expedite the mission of ECHO. He assists Dr. Arora in the fiscal management of the Project and is responsible for developing collaborative agreements with the federally qualified rural rural health clinics. He mentors first-time grant seekers within the ECHO team and serves as chair of the ECHO Advisory Board. Most recently, he worked closely with Dr. Arora on ECHO's winning entry in an international competition for 'Disruptive Innovations in Health and Healthcare'. As Emeritus Professor of Interdisciplinary Education he continues to work to ameliorate disparities in healthcare in rural and underserved areas of New Mexico. In his spare time, he enjoys geocaching, taking photos and making wine.

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