The new leadership team of UNMC’s Interprofessional Academy of Educators sees an array of opportunities ahead as the education-focused academy takes shape in the coming months.
Director Geoffrey Talmon, M.D., and associate directors Drew Patterson, M.D., Ph.D., and Kim Michael, spoke about their vision for the academy shortly after their new positions were announced earlier this month.
To join the IAE
The new leadership team is finalizing the policies and procedures for applying for membership in the Interprofessional Academy of Educators. Specific details of the application process should be released in early 2016.
“The main goal, talking 50,000-foot level, is to break down all the silos that we have,” said Dr. Talmon, associate professor, pathology and microbiology, and the Linder Pathology Residency Director Distinguished Chair. Across UNMC’s 500-mile campus, the academy will provide a forum for educators with like interests to collaborate and enhance their teaching skills.
“It’s very clear that we have a lot of incredible educators all over who are doing some wonderful things,” Dr. Talmon said. “The academy provides the way to get people who have the same interests together, and be able to pool resources, pool experience and so forth. The enthusiasm being shown from the grassroots-level educators is incredible.”
Dr. Patterson, executive vice chair and Larson Professor of Anesthesiology in the College of Medicine, drew a comparison to the support systems provided for researchers.
“There are many resources for people who want to write grants and submit NIH proposals,” he said. “I think we need a corollary for those who want to be outstanding educators. This allows us to concentrate resources in one place, and then gather the individuals who want to go through an intense period of a few years where they really work to develop their skill set.”
Over time, interprofessional education will become a culture, Michael said.
“From what I’ve seen being in the College of Allied Health Professions, working at UNMC, working with Nebraska Medicine, that interprofessional activity is already happening,” said Michael, the Anderson Distinguished Professor of Imaging Sciences and associate professor in the College of Allied Health Professions. “There are educators out there right now that are already doing this. Those are the people we need to bring in, learn from their expertise, and then start bringing in new educators.”
Not only is the academy interprofessional in design, Dr. Talmon said, it also is designed as a service organization.
“It’s designed for members to do things — to mentor, to produce academically, to be innovative — and those are criteria for membership,” he said. “With those two aspects of the academy, we’re going to see some really exciting things come out of the collaboration and interaction that will happen from within the membership.
“The academy, iEXCEL℠ and the new Master’s of Health Professions Teaching and Technology, are very synergistic. Their missions, outcomes and goals are very well aligned to take us to the next level, to make us the premier health science educational institution in the region, if not the country.”
Congratulations to Geoff, Kim and Drew. I greatly appreciate your willingness to take on these leadership positions and to focus your efforts on improving the quality of education we provide to all students at UNMC.