Leadership in Interprofessional Health Education and Practice

The changing landscape of health care continues to grow more diverse. As young health professionals move into clinical practice and face challenging health demands and increasing health care costs, they must be prepared to work in interprofessional teams despite a lack of experience in team-based skills. Interprofessional Healthcare: Education and Practice for Rural and Underserved Populations represents a collective response to this problem from educators, clinicians, and community health leaders to create a resource for interprofessional education and practice. Divided into five sections, this book includes the necessary information to encourage dialogue, debate, and action in interprofessional education needed to meet the health care needs for the present and the future.

Charlotte Brasic Royeen'is an A. Watson Armour III Presidential Professor and Dean in the College of Health Sciences at Rush University in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Jensen is Dean, Graduate School and Associate Vice President in Academic Affairs, Professor of Physical Therapy, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions and Faculty Associate, Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska. She holds a B.S. degree in education from the University of Minnesota, an M.A. in physical therapy and Ph.D. in educational evaluation both from Stanford University. Dr. Jensen's research interests, publications and presentations span the areas of clinical reasoning, development of expertise, qualitative research, interprofessional education and assessment. Dr. Jensen has served on several editorial boards and is currently deputy editor for Physiotherapy Research International and Associate Editor for Physiotherapy Theory and Practice and on the Editorial Board of Qualitative Health Research. She has collaborated on seven books, including Handbook of Teaching for Physical Therapists (2nd edition, 2002), Expertise in Physical Therapy Practice (2nd edition, 2007), and Educating for Moral Action: A Sourcebook in Health and Rehabilitation Ethics (which received the Alpha Sigma Nu national book award in the health sciences in 2006). She chairs the Ethics committee for Nebraska Physical Therapy Association. Dr. Jensen has been principal or co-investigator for four federal interdisciplinary grants that focus academic-community partnerships working with Native American communities in northeast Nebraska including the grant which supported the development of this book - Circles of Learning: Community and Clinic as Interdisciplinary Classroom. (Quentin Burdick Rural Health Interdisciplinary Program. DDHS; HRSA; Grant #1 D36 HP 03158). She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary and Community-Based Linkages which reports to the US Secretary of Health and Congress. She is a recipient of the American Physical Therapy Association's Golden Pen Award, and in 2002, was named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the APTA.

Dr. Robin Harvan has devoted her professional career to the advancement of health professions education and practice. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver. She currently serves as Special Projects Associate to the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. Current projects include institutional strategic planning, program accreditation, and the interprofessional education and collaborative heath care practice initiative. Previously, Dr. Harvan served as the Director of the Colorado Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) State System. The mission of the AHEC System is to address issues concerning health professions education and quality, workforce supply and distribution, access to care for under-served/rural populations, enhancing the diversity/cultural competency of the state's health care workforce; and to provide support for communities in the areas of health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Harvan served on the National AHEC Organization Program Director Leadership Committee. She is the Past-Chairperson, former Chairperson-Elect, and former Vice Chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary and Community-Based Linkages which reports to the US Secretary of Health and Congress and is staff supported by the HRSA Bureau of Health Professions. Dr. Harvan also served as a committee member, interprofessional and interdisciplinary education and practice specialist, and contributing author of the National Academies of Practice, Institute of Medicine report on "Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality". Dr. Harvan was an ACE Fellow (American Council on Education) in 2001-2002. From 1995-2003 she served as Director of the Office of Education at the University of Colorado Denver. This office was devoted to the advancement of health professions education, faculty development and interprofessional education at the health sciences center, serving all health professions schools and programs. From 1985-1995, Dr. Harvan was the Chairperson of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (1992-95), Director of an interprofessional graduate program in health professions education (1985-1995), and Coordinator (1985-92) of the school's interdisciplinary core curriculum at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Health Related Professions. She holds a doctorate in Education Theory, Policy and Administration, and a master's degree in Health Professions Education from Rutgers's University, bachelors in Allied Health Services from Montclair State University, and an associate's degree in Medical Laboratory Technology from Felician College in New Jersey.