Unusual circumstances in spring 2020 canceled much, but not the recognition of IPE Innovation and Excellence at U-M.
The 2nd-annual U-M Center for Interprofessional Education’s Awards for IPE Innovation and Excellence were to have been presented at the 6th-annual Health Professions Education Day on April 14, 2020. That was before Covid-19 novel coronavirus made an unwelcome appearance in our lives. So much changed in the interest of slowing the pandemic. HPE Day was among many canceled events at U-M, yet a way was found for the awards to go on. Center for IPE leadership filmed their award presentations, faculty and students filmed their acceptances, and they all played on Center for IPE Twitter on April 14. It wasn’t the same as real-life, but you can get a sense of the achievement and gratitude in the videos for the faculty and student awards (the awards ceremony video in its entirety is also embedded below). Please join us in congratulating the awardees:
2020 Awardees for IPE Innovation and Excellence:
Christina Tang of the College of Pharmacy (Student): As an IPE Student Advisory Committee co-chair this past year, Christina was part of the cohesive voice for student leaders in decision-making places like the IPE Executive and Curriculum Committees. She has been a volunteer at the U-M Student-Run Free Clinic since she was an undergraduate student and continues as a pharmacy student coordinator. Christina has also taken on leadership roles with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement-Open School Chapter at U-M, where she and her colleagues tackle quality improvement issues for our health system as interprofessional teams.
Blueprints for Pangaea (Student Group): This student-led nonprofit reallocates excess, unused medical supplies to areas of need. It includes students from Business, Law, Medicine, Public Health, Public Policy, and Literature, Science, and Arts. They bridge direct patient-care IPE and health-systems IPE, pushing IPE out of the 4 walls of a clinic. They have professionalism, enthusiasm, and a full embodiment of IPE competencies.
Mark Fitzgerald, School of Dentistry Associate Dean/Associate Professor: Dr. Fitzgerald helped to develop and continues to teach Team-Based Clinical Decision Making. He has forged partnerships with other schools to collaborate on or create IPE activities, including ICE, Hospital Dentistry, U.S. Health Systems MOOC, Intro to IPE, and IPE in Action. He has led or co-led the IPE Curriculum Committee since its inception in 2015, is an EC member, IPE 101 Taskforce member, and IPE experiential workgroup member. He has won numerous awards related to his IPE work both from U-M and the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center.
IPE 101 Taskforce, chaired by Dr. Laura Smith of UM-Flint: With faculty representation from all active IPE schools at U-M, this group has led the development and evolution of the Introduction to IPE online course, which provides a foundation for IPE to more than 1600 students spanning more than 10 U-M health science schools.They recognized a need for in-person introductory IPE activities and implemented IPE in Action, the largest educational activity to ever take place at U-M. They have published and presented on their work and have won an award from the Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center. Below, please find the full list of the 101 awardees and their school affiliation:
• Mark Fitzgerald (Dentistry)
• Melissa Gross (Kinesiology)
• Laurel Moore (Medicine)
• Peggy Ursuy (Nursing)
• Karen Farris and Chamipa Phanudulkitti (Pharmacy)
• Olivia Anderson (Public Health)
• Debbie Mattison (Social Work)
• Laura Smith (Physical Therapy)
• Vani Patterson and Ghaidaa Najjar (Center for IPE)
• Tazin Daniels (Center for Research on Learning & Teaching)
• Karthik Nagappan (Business)
• Vinoothna Bavireddy (Information)
Special Distinguished Leadership Award for Bruce Mueller of U-M College of Pharmacy: He was one of U-M’s original IPE champs and a long time Executive Committee Member and professor in IPE courses like Team-Based Clinical Decision Making. He received the award as he began his term as interim dean of the College of Pharmacy. Read more.
Watch the Virtual Awards Ceremony:
Learn more about the Awards for IPE Innovation and Excellence at University of Michigan.
