Four faculty members from U-M health science schools received awards from Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center (MIPERC) .
The MIPERC multi-institution coalition is dedicated to incorporating interprofessional health practice with education. The awards were presented on September 22, the last day of the 2017 MIPERC conference in Grand Rapids, MI.
MIPERC bestows the awards annually for best practices in “collaborative, innovative, and interprofessional initiatives across disciplines, learning institutions, and health care systems.” Frank Ascione, director of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education (IPE), nominated the four U-M faculty members in these two award categories:
DEMONSTRATION MODEL AWARD:
This award went to the U-M team of Melissa Gross of the School of Kinesiology, Debra Mattison of the School of Social Work, and Minal Patel of the School of Public Health, for creating the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit. It’s a web-based resource that serves as a “one-stop shop” for instructors interested in converting their existing courses to interprofessional offerings. The faculty team conceived of the toolkit while serving as U-M Interprofessional Leadership Fellows in 2016-17.
Melissa Gross, Debra Mattison, and Minal Patel, creators of the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit.
They then launched a pilot version in the spring of 2017. In giving the award to the faculty team, MIPERC officials noted that the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit excelled in “promoting interprofessional care in the classroom and to colleagues.”
FACULTY AWARD:
This award acknowledging “outstanding commitment and contribution of a faculty member” went to Laura Smith, assistant professor of physical therapy at UM-Flint. Smith currently serves as lead faculty on the “IPE 101” intro module available to students on all three U-M campuses. The award recognizes her scholarship, mentorship, and demonstrated ability to “empower colleagues and students to engage in interprofessional learning and collaborative practice.”
Laura Smith
“I am honored and humbled to receive this award,” Smith said.
“The interprofessional initiatives at the University of Michigan are exciting and innovative. I’m fortunate to work with such a phenomenal group of students, staff and faculty.”
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