The Indiana University Interprofessional Practice and Education Center (IU IPE) has been named a 2026 Swaay.Health Award winner for Best Use of Social Media, recognizing their innovative approach to documenting interprofessional education in practice. The award was presented at the annual Swaay.Health LIVE event in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The Swaay Health Awards celebrate excellence across healthcare marketing, communications, and patient experience. IU IPE was recognized for a people-centered content strategy that captured real experiences across students, faculty, professionals, and community partners, making collaboration visible and understandable.
Making Collaboration Visible
Interprofessional education is complex, spanning different expertise, roles, and environments. Its value is realized through communication and collaboration.Rather than simplifying that complexity, IU IPE chose to show it.
Through its content, the center highlighted how collaboration actually unfolds:
“The exchange of information flowed… no one felt like they were unheard or they were ignored.”
Nicolas Cramer, 2nd year IU School of Medicine student and IP Core participant.
Moments like this, captured directly from participants, demonstrate what collaboration looks like in practice.
A Shift from Promotion to Practice
Like many organizations, IU IPE had previously used social media to promote programming. In 2024/2025, the focus shifted toward documenting the process of collaboration and its effectiveness.Collaboration is not always clean or predictable. It requires individuals to engage, challenge assumptions, and learn from one another. In many cases, learning begins with the realization that theory alone is not enough:
“...they're (students) coming in with textbook knowledge. And now it's like, okay, so now what we see in the textbook is one thing, but this is actually how it's applied.”
Amanda Adhami, Adjunct Faculty, IU School of Social Work
As individuals work across disciplines and perspectives, deeper understandings begin to emerge:
“It helps them become more holistic thinkers.”
Jim Ballard, Director, UK Center for Interprofessional Health Education
This is what IU IPE set out to capture: how collaboration is learned, tested, and made effective in practice.
Expanding the Definition of Collaboration
A defining element of IU IPE’s strategy was broadening who is seen as part of collaborative care. Content regularly featured not only students and healthcare professionals, but also community members and partners whose perspectives shape real-world outcomes."In law, we have medical-legal partnerships. What that typically means is we get referrals from folks in hospitals that are dealing with various medical issues that, at the same time, have legal issues that not only impact their ability to access medical care, but also impact their ability to have housing, be safe, have employment, and those sorts of things. So they really go together, but it's not until you really sit down and you think about it that you can start to fill in the gaps and see that puzzle."
Carrie Hagan, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, IU McKinney School of Law
This reflects a core truth of interprofessional work: effective collaboration extends beyond individual roles and into the systems and communities those roles serve.
Measured Impact
The new strategy produced measurable growth. A 33% increase in LinkedIn followers, 12 media placements and mentions, and increased awareness and engagement across programming.This approach established IU IPE as a credible, human-centered voice in interprofessional education.
Recognition from Swaay.Health
“At a time when marketing and patient experience budgets are being cut, it’s more important than ever to highlight the incredibly talented people, teams, content, and campaigns in healthcare,” said Colin Hung. “Winning a Swaay.Health Award is no small feat. This year’s winners were truly the best of the best.”“Swaay.Health has always been about lifting each other up,” added John Lynn. “The 2026 winners are inspiring.”
Aligned with Vision
This recognition reflects IU IPE’s vision of creating collaborative cultures.As IU IPE Director, Dr. Barbara Maxwell explains:
“The intent of interprofessional collaboration is actually to improve the lives of people and populations.”
IU IPE’s work focuses on making that vision tangible through the people, interactions, and experiences that define collaborative practice.
A Model for the Field
IU IPE’s approach demonstrates that social media can function as a record of practice. It can capture how collaboration is learned, applied, and experienced across professions and communities.IU IPE did not use social media to tell people what it does.
It used it to show it.