Celebrating 10 Years of Interprofessional Education
CIPE launches IPE/IPC Community of Practice, bringing together nearly one hundred health professionals from across disciplines and igniting conversations about the future of IPE and collaborative practice.
CIPE named its first directors of core curriculum, research, engagement and development, and interprofessional community health.
CIPE named the first cohort of students to participate in ISICL (Interprofessional Students: Innovating. Collaborating. Leading.), beginning in Fall 2025.
National Academies of Practice launch Public Health Academy, co-founded in part with Vani Patterson, CIPE Administrative Director, who serves as ChairElect of the new academy.
CIPE began meetings with a Michigan Medicine primary care clinic to launch its first demonstration of Thriving Together, a targeted initiative to improve team culture.
CIPE launches the ICHC (Interprofessional Community Health Collaborative) Toolkit, a resource to help faculty and staff forge community relationships.
CIPE research team launches its evaluation of the Center’s core curriculum as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.
As the Center for Interprofessional Education marks its 10-year anniversary, we are undertaking a voluntary self-study and extensive external review to reflect on our growth and guide our next phase. This process offers a valuable opportunity to assess our impact, examine our infrastructure and strategy, and ensure we remain aligned with our mission to advance interprofessional education, collaborative practice, and research.
Drawing on the full scope of our work, including our evolving core curriculum, growing research initiatives, experiential innovation, engagement and educator development, and systems transformation, this external review is a critical step as we look toward the next 10 years and beyond. It reflects our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, meaningful collaboration, and leadership in shaping the future of health professions education and care.
This year’s work builds on that foundation, signaling where we’re headed and how we continue to grow. New initiatives took root, leadership roles expanded, and collaborations deepened across the University and beyond. From piloting new programs to shaping national conversations, our work this year reflects the Center’s growing scope, impact, and connective power.
We are grateful for our collaborating partners who help support our mission.
University of Michigan
Center for Academic Innovation (CAI)
Center for Research on Learning & Teaching (CRLT)
Department of Learning Health Sciences (DLHS)
Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning
Health Equity. Action. Research. Teaching. (HEART) at UM-Flint
Information and Technology Services (ITS)
Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI)
Taubman Health Sciences Library (THSL)
University of Michigan Student-Run Free Clinic (UMSRFC)
Michigan Medicine
Health Information and Technology Services (HITS)
Human Resources
Office of Faculty Development
Office of Patient Experience (OPE)
Office of Well-Being
Quality Department/Office of Patient Safety
Research. Innovation. Scholarship. Education. (RISE)
University of Michigan Health
University of Michigan Medical Group (UMMG)
Community Cranbrook Tower Parkway Meadows Packard Health
National and International
American Interprofessional Health Collaborative (AIHC)
Big Ten IPE Academic Alliance
Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC)
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
The Marteney Group
Midwest Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research Center (MIPERC)
National Academies of Practice (NAP)
National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (Nexus)
University of Toronto Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE)
Team-Based Clinical Decision Making REINFORCE INTRODUCE
University of Michigan pre-health students gathered in Fall 2024 to explore the wide range of health professions that support the care of people and populations and to better understand the critical importance of teamwork across these roles. The Pathways in Health Meet and Greet, which was attended by over 200 students, was developed and organized by the CIPE’s Pre-Health Initiative Workgroup led by Dr. Lisa Martin, Professor of Health and Human Services at UM-Dearborn.
Student attendees were joined by dozens of facilitators, including physicians, radiation therapists, epidemiologists, social workers, respiratory therapists, administrators, nurses, and more. Facilitators shared their rich experiences and highlighted the benefits of healthcare education and professional development. Dr. Amy Buckenmeyer, CIPE Director of Interprofessional Community Engagement and Clinical Associate Professor in the University of Michigan School of Nursing, served as a facilitator at the event.
“I saw a real eagerness and enthusiasm to learn from one another during my time with the students. The more they understand and respect each other’s roles, the more effective and adaptable they will be in the future.”
Dr. Amy Buckenmeyer
“It was really nice to learn about a range of experiences from diverse healthcare areas,” said Isabel Lee, a student majoring in Pharmaceutical Sciences who attended the event. “I got to talk with different facilitators, from physicians to physical therapists, and get insight from their decades of experience in their respective fields.” The Pathways in Health event is part of the Center’s ongoing initiative to engage preprofessional students by fostering collaboration skills early in their academic journeys.
The Interprofessional Community Health Collaborative (ICHC) is committed to expanding interprofessional education into community health settings, fostering meaningful connections between students and local communities. This initiative bridges academic learning with real-world impact, promoting collaboration among healthcare disciplines while addressing community health needs. The ICHC is led by Dr. Amy Buckenmeyer, our new CIPE Director of Interprofessional Community Engagement. In her role, Amy leads the development and execution of strategies to strengthen relationships between the Center and our community collaborators.
To support the scaling of community IPE events, we created the ICHC Toolkit, a how-to guide to help faculty and staff forge community relationships to create meaningful impact on community members while also fostering IPE learning for students. You can explore the toolkit on our website.
Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., C.P.H., C.P.N.P.-
P.C., Director of Interprofessional Community Engagement
This year, dietetic students joined forces with medical, pharmacy, and nursing students at Parkway Meadows in Ann Arbor to provide free blood pressure and blood glucose screenings to over 50 residents. These efforts not only enhance student learning but also create lasting benefits for the communities they serve.
“Participating in IPE initiatives has been a great way for people like myself, a nurse practitioner student, to work directly with other related disciplines in constructive and collaborative ways,” said Joshua Lyon, a student at the University of Michigan. “They provide interesting opportunities to share, teach, and learn–not just from patients, but from other students in collaborative disciplines as well. Rich opportunities like these are one of the many reasons I chose Michigan to pursue my studies.”
A standout innovation this year is the extensive preparation towards the launch of our TEAMS Debriefings, a facultyfacilitated reflection model tailored specifically for real-world experiential learning. To date, the only debriefing frameworks focus on simulation. This model supports interprofessional groups of students as they reflect on their TEAMS 1 and TEAMS 2 experiences of engaging in real practice settings.
These debriefing experiences are structured through activities in both TEAMS 1 and TEAMS 2: TEAMS 1 engages early-stage learners in shadowing or interviewing professionals from other roles to better understand responsibilities, collaboration, and team culture. TEAMS 2 is designed for more advanced learners to observe or participate in interprofessional team interactions, with a focus on communication, shared decision-making, and team dynamics. Together, these activities ground students in authentic interprofessional practice and set the stage for meaningful reflection.
The national interest in the TEAMS Debriefings has been striking. When the CIPE team presented this model at the Collaborating Across Borders IX conference in May 2025, it was met with strong enthusiasm and recognition that this fills a critical gap in IPE. As other institutions explore adapting this model, TEAMS debriefings position CIPE as a national leader in experiential IPE innovation.
“The movement toward scaling up the TEAMS activities is an exciting space for helping students learn from interprofessional interactions happening in plain sight in their every day clinical and field rotations,” said Grace Kanzawa-Lee, a clinical assistant professor in the U-M School of Nursing who has led the Center’s work around TEAMS debriefings. “The TEAMS activities help students be really intentional and reflective while shadowing other health professionals, analyzing interprofessional team interactions, and engaging in actual interprofessional teams to provide the best care possible to patients.”
Dr. Michael Brenner’s development of an Interprofessional Education (IPE) Individually Arranged Rotation (IndArr) in otolaryngology addresses a critical gap in clinical education by immersing students in real-world, teambased care. The rotation features a customizable menu that allows students to select experiences with a range of professionals, including audiologists, nurses, dentists, and speech-language pathologists. These tailored experiences help learners build a deeper understanding of interdisciplinary roles. One student, for example, described the value of participating in a cochlear implant clinic to better understand how audiologists and surgeons work together in patient care.
Students consistently report increased confidence in teambased environments and a clearer sense of how collaboration enhances patient outcomes.
Michael Brenner M.D., FACS Associate Professor, Department of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery
This experience was immensely helpful for my future career. From day 1 on my internship, I will be a member of an interprofessional team and I feel strongly that I will be able to provide better care and be a better team member due to my experience with this elective. Further, I was able to improve my knowledge base of otolaryngologic conditions and treatments, which will be beneficial as I transition to intern year.”
The elective fully encompassed the purpose of increasing exposure to various professionals within otolaryngology that students would otherwise not get to see. It was an incredibly diverse learning experience that highlighted the importance of teamwork and collaboration within the field. The experience also managed to provide a more holistic understanding of otolaryngologic issues and solutions while maintaining a patient-centered approach to care.”
Karen Farris Ph.D., M.P.A., Director of Research
Over the past year, the Center for Interprofessional Education has sharpened its focus on research that drives innovation in teaching, learning, and team-based care. In January 2025, Dr. Karen Farris was named the Center’s first Director of Research. A seasoned scholar and leader, Dr. Farris brings a strategic lens to the Center’s growing portfolio of studies, partnerships, and evaluation tools.
Her appointment marks a pivotal moment in the Center’s development, solidifying research as a core pillar of our mission and aligning scholarship with real-world needs across health systems and communities.
The Center’s research continues to focus on improving interprofessional education (IPE) through evidence-based approaches. Our work includes evaluating how students learn in team-based settings, assessing the impact of early clinical exposure, and scaling educational programs to reach more learners across disciplines and campuses.
One major infrastructure investment is the DataViz platform. This internal tool tracks IPE participation across all three U-M campuses and connects student engagement to core competencies. Originally created for course tracking, DataViz is now being
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, the Center is conducting a multiyear evaluation to better understand the impact of our interprofessional education (IPE) offerings on student learning, engagement, and long-term outcomes.
To do this, we’re exploring the following specific aims:
1. Assess the impact of the core curricula and teaching methods on student engagement and the attainment of CIPE sub-competencies.
2. Determine the factors, over time, influencing student engagement and perceptions of IPE collaboration and their evolution, linking these concepts to the attainment of CIPE sub-competencies and IPC behaviors.
3. Assess the post-graduation engagement in interprofessional care (IPC) among students with IPE training, and assess the impact of IPC on health practitioners’ well-being.
These projects align closely with the University of Michigan’s “Look to Michigan” strategic vision, particularly its goal to foster life-changing education and advance health and well-being. Our work in clinical and community spaces exemplifies how academic innovation can support both learning and care delivery.
As we move forward, the Center will focus on four key research areas:
Impact of core offerings on student learning outcomes including IPE knowledge and subcompetences
Impact of interprofessional care on health professional well-being
Effect of Thriving Together on team’s culture and indicators of the quintuple aim
Use of community health needs assessments to develop models of interprofessional care
The IPE/IPC Community of Practice (CoP) launched in early 2025 with regular engagement from around 50 faculty, staff, and learners dedicated to advancing interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaborative practice (IPC) at the University of Michigan. Spearheaded by Dr. Laura Smith, our new CIPE Director of Interprofessional Engagement and Development, this dynamic network fosters connection, knowledge-sharing, and innovation to enhance teamwork across the health professions. Smith partners with passionate professionals who are committed to improving health outcomes through collaboration across disciplines.
Laura Smith P.T., D.P.T., Ph.D., Director of Interprofessional Engagement and Development
CoP sessions encourage deep discussions among participants who work to identify challenges and brainstorm innovative approaches to interprofessional collaboration. Dr. David J. Brown, M.D., Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Health Advancement at Michigan Medicine, emphasized the necessity of collaborative practice in fostering health equity. “Bringing diverse health professionals together in spaces like this is essential to creating equitable, high-quality care for all patients,” said Dr. Brown. “We have to work together across disciplines to create a truly inclusive healthcare system.”
James DeVaney Founding
Executive
Director, CAI
We have partnered with CAI to design and develop Introduction to Interprofessional Education as an online course available to the public. We were selected as recipients of the Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) to help support our project’s goal of fostering greater accessibility to key interprofessional research. Introduction to Interprofessional Education explores the essentials of interprofessional teamwork, communication, roles and responsibilities, and values and ethics, to improve health and health outcomes.
“This collaboration with the Center for Interprofessional Education exemplifies the kind of transformative, mission-driven work we aim to support through the Academic Innovation Fund. By expanding access to essential interprofessional education, this project strengthens how we prepare future health professionals and reflects our shared commitment to equitable, lifelong learning opportunities that reach beyond traditional boundaries.”
James DeVaney, Founding Executive Director of the Center for Academic Innovation
The Center for Interprofessional Education selected its first cohort of students for an exciting new initiative in Fall 2025: Interprofessional Students: Innovating. Collaborating. Leading. (ISICL), a student leadership development program designed to empower future health professionals. Kicking off in April 2025, this one-year program offers students from all 10 health science schools hands-on leadership training, personalized mentorship with IPE leaders, and experiential learning through guest speakers and sessions focused on innovation, collaboration, and leadership.
A key priority this year is Thriving Together, a multi-phase intervention designed to improve interprofessional teamwork and culture within clinical environments. Developed by the Center and supported by the Systems Transformation Committee (STC), this initiative takes a comprehensive approach to strengthening how healthcare teams work—and learn—together.
Thriving Together is based on the ACT model with three core components: Assessment, Coaching and support, and Training and development. At its heart is the formation of a champions team that includes leaders and stakeholders within a unit who play a vital role in shaping its culture. These champions engage in team and individual coaching, receiving hands-on support to guide their broader teams through cultural transformation.
Lauren Gardner M.H.S.A., A.T.C.
Each participating unit undergoes a deep-dive assessment combining qualitative and quantitative data. Findings from this process inform customized training drawn from existing resources across Michigan Medicine and the University, as well as hands-on coaching and support. Two demonstrations of Thriving Together will launch in 2025-26.
The CIPE worked with the STC to leverage existing sources of systems data from our partners, Press Ganey, allowing us to crosswalk multiple sources of data and performance criteria to identify clinics who are “thriving” and those in “crisis” in our health system. While metrics like patient experience, employee engagement, leadership index, team index, and faculty engagement are regularly reviewed, they have never been analyzed in relation to each other. We demonstrated to executive leadership how these issues which are typically addressed in isolation, are interconnected and team-sensitive. A unified focus on improving teamwork offers a strong opportunity to advance all of these areas together.
This past year, CIPE significantly expanded its national presence, contributing to critical conversations about systems transformation at four major conferences. At the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum and Press Ganey’s Human Experience 2025 Conference, our team elevated the role of interprofessional education within broader efforts to improve health systems and patient experience. While these convenings are not traditionally centered on IPE, our presence signaled the importance of embedding interprofessional principles into large-scale change efforts. Our team highlighted how team-based education and practice can drive better outcomes and more humancentered care.
In addition, our participation at two cornerstone IPE conferences—Collaborating Across Borders (CAB) IX and the National Academies of Practice (NAP) 2025 Annual Meeting & Forum—reinforced our role as national thought leaders in interprofessional systems transformation. These gatherings, deeply grounded in IPE scholarship and practice, offered a platform for us to share innovations in faculty development, curriculum design, and reflective practice. More importantly, they affirmed our commitment to transforming how we prepare future health professionals to work together in complex care environments, advancing a more collaborative, equitable, and effective health system. At NAP 2025, the CIPE team advocated for interprofessional practice and access to quality healthcare, celebrating accomplishments within the interprofessional community.
“The presentation by the CIPE team at NAP was an excellent demonstration of collaboration with U-M Health in order to progress our key strategic priorities. I was honored to be a participant in the roundtable presentation and discussion.”
David Miller, M.D., M.P.H., Michigan Medicine CEO and U-M Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
This year marked a significant milestone with the launch of NAP’s 17th academy—the Public Health Academy. Neil Maniar, of Northeastern University, serves as the Academy Chair, while Vani Patterson, CIPE Administrative Director, steps into the role of Chair-Elect. Both of them spent the past year leading the creation of this academy, highlighting the critical role of public health in interprofessional collaboration and policy. CIPE also celebrated the induction of seven University of Michigan community members into NAP as Distinguished Fellows. This honor recognizes individuals who have spent a significant portion of their professional career in the practice and delivery of health care services and they are judged by distinguished peers to have made enduring contributions to their profession and especially to interprofessional education and practice. The group includes faculty and clinicians from all 3 campuses of the University of Michigan. Fellows participate in activities and advocacy work with members of their academy, including visits to state capitols and Washington, D.C.
Do you have an interest in learning more about interprofessional education? We invite you to connect with us on social media, join our mailing list, or reach out for more opportunities. Learn more by visiting our website.
Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education 5100 THSL, 1135 Catherine Street • Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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The Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education is supported by the Provost and the Health Sciences Council of Deans.
Executive Officers of Michigan Medicine
David C. Miller, MD, MPH, CEO, Michigan Medicine, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Michigan, and Professor of Urology; Steven L. Kunkel, PhD, Executive Vice Dean for Research, U-M Medical School, Chief Scientific Officer, Michigan Medicine, Peter A. Ward Distinguished University Professor, and Endowed Professor of Pathology Research; Marschall S. Runge, MD, PhD, Dean, U-M Medical School, McKay Professor, and Professor of Internal Medicine.
Regents of the University of Michigan
Jordan B. Acker, Michael J. Behm, Mark J. Bernstein, Paul W. Brown, Sarah Hubbard, Denise Ilitch, Carl J. Meyers, Katherine E. White.
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