Interview with Michael J. Oldani, PhD A trained medical anthropologist, Michael J. Oldani earned his PhD from Princeton University and previously served as director of interprofessional practice and education (IPE) at Concordia University Wisconsin. He joined the University at Buffalo as executive director of IPE on Oct. 1, 2024. What do we mean when we talk about interprofessional education in the broadest sense? And what does IPE at UB look like? IPE is a movement that’s really focused on transforming health care delivery through high quality interprofessional collaborative practice. It’s about preparing highly competent health care professionals, who improve health outcomes and patient safety by excelling in interprofessional communication, teamwork, and patient- and populationcentered care. At UB, we have our six health sciences schools (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, public health and social work), but we’ve evolved to include programs in speech language pathology, audiology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, dietetics, clinical counseling and more. We even have a relationship with Canisius University to bring in their physician assistant students. It’s really important for students to understand that they’re going to be working on diverse professional teams and often working with patients who are not like them.
You have no prior connection to Buffalo. What drew you to take on this role at UB? First, for me, was the level of research coming out of UB. I looked at UB and how much research was being produced at the national level, where people were advancing the literature in IPE in really significant ways. They had a lot of funding for IPE, and the scope of the professions involved was very impressive. What I also noticed was this digital badge/ micro-credentialing program where all the students were receiving proof of their
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competency building. Since 2017, UB has awarded over 6,000 digital badges in IPE. That sheer number tells you that students want the distinction. They want the proof that they’re getting better at team-based care. All of that puts UB at a level that I would say is among the best in the nation.
By definition, IPE can’t exist in a vacuum, but it really is more than an academic exercise—this is collaboration they will carry into their practice and beyond, correct? So if we take the medical school, for example. Every medical student goes through a curriculum where it’s hardwired in to build competencies in four domains: values and ethics; interprofessional communication; roles and responsibilities, or scope of practice— does a medical student know what a pharmacy student does?—and coming together in teams through activities like simulation. So, we’ve kind of moved from
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Michael J. Oldani talks with students during a recent introprofessional practice and education activity on UB’s North Campus.
a movement that’s still very focused on patient safety—in reducing errors—to one that’s also focused on improving outcomes. That’s kind of been the evolution of IPE into practice. Everyone’s a learner in the IPE space, even me. The best example would be TeamSTEPPS (Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety). What’s amazing to me is when we do simulations on Friday afternoons with groups of students and you have Stephen Turkovich, president of Oishei Children’s Hospital, there or [Associate Professor of Neurosurgery] Ken Snyder, who is chief physician quality officer at Kaleida Health. They’re right there facilitating with me and these students. The students there are seeing their faculty on a Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. totally enthusiastic about improving patient safety and patient care through TeamSTEPPS. That’s an amazing culture we have here.