Response was enthusiastic for U-M faculty presentations, and Michigan Center for IPE’s Frank Ascione was surprised with a first-of-its-kind honor.
Ten well-attended presentations by teams of more than a dozen University of Michigan faculty and staff members would have been enough to be pleased with at the international CABVII conference in Indianapolis in late October. In particular, presentations on U-M’s award-winning foundational programs (including the Intro to IPE module and IPE in Action) drew standing-room-only crowds.
A crowning moment came near the conference’s conclusion, when the inaugural Interprofessional Educator and Mentor Award from conference co-sponsor, the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC), was given to Frank Ascione, the founding and current director of the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education and a U-M professor of pharmacy. He had been nominated on behalf of the U-M IPE community by a group of Center for IPE staff members and Executive Committee members, four of whom were on hand for the award presentation.
Clearly taken by surprise at the honor, Ascione called it “very touching” after he had time to reflect and read the 8-page nomination. “It is a wonderful award, but everyone’s support in getting me and our work recognized is more important to me. It is a remarkable commentary, and very humbling.”
The nomination testimonials for Ascione repeatedly referred to him as a “teacher of teachers” and “mentor of mentors” in U-M’s growing IPE community. Co-nominator Laura Smith (at right in photo above), an associate professor at UM-Flint College of Health Sciences, said of Ascione: “A person with his combination of vision, intellect, interpersonal communication, collaborative approach, integrity and passion for excellence will always accept a challenge and continue with diligence, creating greatness in the organizations in which he serves.”
The AIHC award and many other successful interactions between U-M IPE representatives and the 700+ international attendees at CABVII, which is a premier international conference, indicate significant recent progress for the U-M Center for IPE on one of its main goals: To become a national/international leader in interprofessional education.
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