Strategic Initiative Fund (SIF)

Scaling Interprofessional Education to Improve Human Health

This project, led by the University of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CIPE), will expand hands-on, team-based learning opportunities that bring students across all 26 U-M health science programs, spanning 10 health science schools and three campuses, together in clinical and community settings. Its core goal is to move health professions education beyond classroom-based learning by embedding students from fields such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and others into real clinical and community settings where they collaborate on patient care and community health challenges.

The initiative centers on expanding TEAMS-Collaborate (Teams Engaging to Acquire Meaningful Skills), the most advanced level of the center’s interprofessional longitudinal curriculum. This effort places students directly into practice settings where they work together on activities such as patient care planning, community health assessment, quality improvement, care coordination, benefit navigation, and health education. The initiative aims to better prepare future health professionals to collaborate across disciplines, improving care for patients and communities.