After a recent recruitment process, three new students join two returning Co-Chairs to lead the efforts of the Center for Interprofessional Education’s Student Advisory Committee (SAC) for 2023-24
The Student Advisory Committee (SAC) is excited to welcome a new group of leaders. The 2023-24 SAC Co-Chairs are:
- Taylor Bringard, School of Nursing
- Vahram Gamsarian, Medical School
- Blake Hardin, Medical School
- Tommy Lau, School of Dentistry
- Natalya Salganik, College of Pharmacy
SAC includes students whose goal is to work collaboratively with C-IPE to foster intentional faculty and student connection, with the primary aim of ensuring students are part of the driving force towards the future of interprofessional education and collaborative care at the University of Michigan. Those selected as co-chairs act as liaisons between health science students, health science school faculty and leaders, and the Center for Interprofessional Education (C-IPE). They lead monthly SAC meetings to support and enable student-led IPE efforts, while also soliciting input on curricular IPE activities. They are members of the IPE Executive Committee (EC), as well as several IPE workgroups and committees, where they share student input and work with faculty to co-develop IPE activities.
New Co-Chairs Bringard, Gamsarian and Hardin join returning Co-Chairs Lau and Salganik, representing four different schools across U-M. This mixture of new perspectives combined with experienced leadership should set them up for success as they work to execute SAC’s charge to work collaboratively with the C-IPE to foster intentional faculty and student connection and ensure that students are part of the driving force towards the future of IPE and collaborative care at U-M.
“As a new student looking to get involved with IPE, there are many avenues to do so at the University of Michigan. The student corner of the C-IPE website is a great place to start,” shared Salganik. “We have IPE student organizations, courses, events and various other opportunities to explore.”
For those wishing to become more involved with SAC, Salganik encourages them to reach out. SAC Co-Chairs can be contacted by email at [email protected].
Why IPE?
We asked our SAC Co-Chairs to share why they are interested in IPE:
“Nursing is built on communication and teamwork. IPE gives nursing a space to not only grow within our own field, but also with our health discipline colleagues. The growth of our communication and teamwork skills allows us to improve patient care and outcomes.” – Taylor Bringard, School of Nursing
“Interprofessional education is critical in developing health care leaders that will provide holistic, comprehensive care for patients and families. Well-functioning interprofessional teams will improve patient and family outcomes and help avoid patients, especially those with disabilities and chronic illnesses, falling through the cracks of an imperfect health care system.” Blake Hardin, Medical School
“IPE is motivating to me because it brings health professionals together for this common question: how can we improve from where we are at? As a dental student, IPE provides me the network to navigate an experience that has no perfect answer, and I’m eager to find ways to provide care in a patient-centered mindset.” Tommy Lau, School of Dentistry