Cooperative Agriculture Extension Program

Cooperative Extension Service (CES) is a partnership among county, state and federal governments, providing citizens with access to the wealth of knowledge generated by land grant universities. This link between people in all 120 Kentucky counties and UK provides educational programming in key areas, including health and human development.

Extension agents organize and deliver meetings and workshops, field days, research demonstrations, publications, newsletters, personal consultations and Web or satellite broadcasts. CES plays a key role in community-based research initiatives and assures local ownership of the research outcomes.

Health Education through Extension Leadership (HEEL) is a successful model of community engagement facilitating community-participatory research and promoting health research translation. A USDA-funded program launched in 2005 and subsequently extended through 2011, and led by Ann Vail, PhD, human environmental sciences, HEEL serves as a catalyst for change by building community capacity to improve health and educate consumers to make informed health choices.

As a partnership between CES and UK's six health professions colleges, HEEL creates innovative strategies to improve health outcomes and reduce the burden of chronic disease for all Kentuckians. CES/HEEL has been the community-based driver of UK's long-standing Appalachian Ovarian Cancer Screening Program, led by John van Nagell, MD, gynecologic oncology. This internationally recognized program offers Kentucky women enrollment in a study that is evaluating the efficacy of annual transvaginal ultrasonography for the early detection of ovarian cancer.