February 15, 2016
Jolene Bostwick, PharmD'04, and Karen Farris, PhD'93, will represent the Collge of Pharmacy as Interprofessional Leadership Fellows.

The Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education has named 15 faculty and 1 staff member for the inaugural cohort of the Interprofessional Leadership Fellows program. Jolene Bostwick, PharmD'04, and Karen Farris, PhD'93, will represent the Collge of Pharmacy as fellows. The program will provide motivated fellows with opportunities to learn from and work with academic and practice leaders at the university and national level. It is designed to build their capacity as interprofessional educator scholars, as well as effective leaders and change agents.

The program launched in January 2016 with fellows representing the School of Dentistry, School of Kinesiology, Medical School, School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, School of Public Health, School of Social Work, and School of Health Professions and Studies (Flint). Fellows were nominated by each participating school.

During the 18-month program, participants will attend one of several national Interprofessional Faculty Development Program workshops, which were developed with support from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.

“These three-and-a-half day trainings will expose our faculty to a national network of peers and leaders,” says Frank Ascione, director of the Center for Interprofessional Education. “The scope of our engagement, and our commitment to developing faculty change agents, will also help position the university as an emerging leader in interprofessional education.”

In addition to the national trainings, fellows will participate in a campus-based interprofessional learning community facilitated by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT).

“The Fellows Program is based on research that indicates the power of sustained communities of practice to create effective and long-lasting organizational change,” says CRLT executive director, Matt Kaplan. “CRLT is very excited about the opportunity to help achieve the goal of making U-M a leader in interprofessional education.”

Throughout the program fellows will develop and implement interprofessional education or practice projects relevant to their respective units, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of fellows. These projects will be implemented in the 2016-17 school year. The center anticipates naming a second cohort of fellows in early 2017.

The Interprofessional Leadership Fellows program is funded by the Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education with support from the provost’s Transforming Learning for the Third Century Initiative, and the deans of the seven health science schools: School of Dentistry, School of Kinesiology, Medical School, School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, School of Public Health, and School of Social Work.

Learn more about the Interprofessional Leadership Fellows