Our Stories

Emergency Preparedness and Response

WHO Collaborating Center for Digital Learning in Health Emergencies

The World Health Organization and Project ECHO partnership is a transformative catalyst for equity. 

Diabetes

Five Questions With: Dr. Matt Bouchonville

Dr. Matt Bouchonville wants every patient to receive best-practice diabetes care in their home town, from their trusted health care provider. In 2013, he joined Project ECHO to make that dream a reality. Today, Dr. Bouchonville serves as our New Mexico medical director.

Five Questions With: Lynn Waln

Finance and operations leader Lynn Waln joined Project ECHO in 2014, inspired by its mission to serve the underserved. Today, she serves as chief administrative officer, building systems to amplify our impact.

Maternal and Child Health

Five Questions With: Simran Priel

Simran Priel joined Project ECHO in 2023. Having worked as a midwife and lactation consultant for 20 years, she knew firsthand the power of the ECHO Model. Today, she leads our maternal child health initiative.

Five Questions With: Jess Jones, Ph.D.

Jones first joined Project ECHO in 2017 as a graduate student. She fell in love with the “immediate impact” ECHO has on the world – a privilege not all researchers get to enjoy in their work. Today, Jones serves as director of the research and evaluation team.

Health Care

Project ECHO: Origin Story

“Every year, millions of people around the world die of diseases that are preventable, treatable and even curable because the health care providers in their communities don’t have the knowledge and expertise needed to address their conditions,” Dr. Sanjeev Arora, founder of Project ECHO.

Justice and Corrections

Five Questions With: Dr. Karla Thornton

Dr. Karla Thornton first joined Project ECHO in 2003 as part of the very first ECHO Hub team focused on hepatitis C. In April 2025, she stepped up to fulfill the executive director position.

Five Questions With: Saúl Hernández

Saúl Hernández, New Mexico Programs director, joined Project ECHO in 2015. He felt so compelled to join ECHO, and its mission, he left his recently-purchased home in Las Cruces, NM, on two weeks notice. We wanted to learn more about his passion.

Substance Use Disorder

Breaking the Cycle: Expanding Opioid Treatment in New Mexico

Project ECHO is expanding access to evidence-based treatment, intervention and prevention strategies for substance use disorders for two of the state’s most vulnerable populations: pregnant people and people in detention centers.

Communicable Diseases

Equipping New Mexico’s Public Health Providers to Combat the Syphilis Epidemic

Syphilis is surging in New Mexico. According to the CDC, the state is now ranked second-highest in the nation for the rate of syphilis cases, and leading in the rate of congenital syphilis cases.

Substance Use Disorder

A Personal Journey Through Chronic Pain and Stigma

Project ECHO’s Opioid Crisis and Pain Management program empowers health care professionals in rural communities with expert-led training and resources to enhance harm reduction, opioid overdose prevention, and patient care.

Children

‘Reflective Practice’ Supports Early Childhood Professionals

This New Mexico ECHO program supports early childhood professionals develop emotional resilience in tough situations.  

Justice and Corrections

Fifteen Years of Changing the Lives of Incarcerated People 

Today, the New Mexico Peer Education Project offers a continuum of transformational opportunity and support for people who are incarcerated to find their voices and create new lives for themselves.

Substance Use Disorder

‘Lived Experience’ Integral to Success of New Mexico Opioid ECHO Program

Matthew Pettit, certified peer support worker, shares why New Mexico’s opioid ECHO programs are successful.

Children

Protecting Children from ACEs with ECHO Pays Off for New Mexico 

Now in its second year, this ECHO program is an innovative solution to prevent adverse childhood experiences from adding up for New Mexico’s children.

Maternal and Child Health

Amplifying Maternal Health Substance Use Disorder ECHOs in New Mexico

Two doctors, located 140 miles apart, use the ECHO Model to increase services for pregnant people with substance use disorder.

HIV/AIDS

Transforming HIV Care in Native Communities 

Indian Health Service providers leverage the ECHO Model, improving HIV treatment options in the Southwest.

Education

Educators Boost Literacy Knowledge through ECHO Education Program

WATCH: See how Project ECHO is applying the groundbreaking ECHO Model to New Mexico’s literacy crisis.