History and Organization

In 2010, Indiana University President Michael McRobbie convened the Deans of the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Social Work, Optometry, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, and the IU Public Health Coordinating Council (now known as the Bloomington School of Public Health and the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health) as University Clinical Affairs (UCA). UCA serves as the coordinating body for health sciences at Indiana University, working across all campuses to identify and facilitate opportunities for collaboration and coordination across educational, research, clinical, and administrative areas. Per President McRobbie’s direction, the Dean of the School of Medicine acts as the Chair of UCA; the Dean of the School of Nursing acts as its Deputy Chair.

In 2014, UCA established the Indiana University Interprofessional Practice and Education Center (IU IPE) to extend a culture of collaboration across the state and build stronger and better healthcare teams for the future. Key partners in this work include faculty, staff, and students from:

• IU School of Medicine
• IU School of Dentistry
• IU Indianapolis School of Health and Human Sciences
• IU School of Nursing, Bloomington
• IU Indianapolis School of Nursing, IU Fort Wayne School of Nursing
• IU School of Optometry
• IU School of Public Health, Bloomington
• Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
• IU School of Social Work
• Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
• Purdue University College of Pharmacy

Academic Steering Committee

A key component of our work together includes providing learners with a foundational curriculum that prepares them for interprofessional collaboration in practice.  The Interprofessional Core Curriculum (IP Core) does exactly that. Students begin the competency-based, hybrid curriculum when they are admitted to their degree programs and continue throughout their training.

In 2016, the IU IPE Academic Steering Committee (IU IPE ASC) was convened. With their support, we deliver superior educational experiences across the state on nine IUSM campuses.

The Academic Steering Committee (ACS) consists of academic leaders (1 representative of each school comprising University Clinical Affairs), IU IPE leadership and staff, and other invited members. The ASC is the decision-making and policy-implementation body of IU IPE.

IPE Working Groups

IU IPE partners with faculty, staff, students, and community members in regional IPE collaboratives and working groups in Bloomington, Evansville, South Bend, and Terre Haute, to:

• Discuss best practices in interprofessional practice and education
• Create opportunities for collaboration in scholarship
• Implement additional regional interprofessional initiatives where students learn about, from, and with each other

To extend our reach and service, our faculty, staff, and students participate on a variety of boards and committees at the local, state, national and international levels. These include the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative, the Big 10 Academic Alliance Interprofessional Education Work Group, the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, Interprofessional Global, the National Academies of Practice, and the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education.