Our Approach and Team

The Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education is a coordinating center for IPE and collaborative collaborative care efforts at the University of Michigan. By carefully aligning and integrating the needs and interests of health professions education with collaborative practice, we are working to transform the way we prepare U-M students. We achieve our goals through curriculum development, clinical innovation and evaluative research.

Michigan Center for IPE Mission

Innovating and transforming interprofessional education, collaborative practice and research to achieve the Quadruple Aims of health.

Michigan Center for IPE Vision Statement

The University of Michigan Center for Interprofessional Education and its partners bring faculty, staff and students together to design and implement innovative interprofessional education experiences in didactic and experiential settings so that learners are effective team members and can lead the development of new models of collaboration. The Center partners with university and community units in developing and educating learners in these new models of interprofessional collaboration in the practice and community settings. Collectively, we strive to measure the impact of IPE on learning, practice, and the quadruple aims of health.

Center for IPE Staff:

Rajesh S. Mangrulkar, M.D., Director – Serves as the visionary and strategic leader for interprofessional education across U-M’s 10 health science schools on 3 campuses–-and increasingly in collaboration with other U-M schools (law, business, engineering, education, etc.). He is the Marguerite S. Roll Professor of Medical Education, associate professor of internal medicine and learning health sciences, and former associate dean for medical student education at the Medical School. His academic work focuses on organizational leadership and innovation, and their interface with transforming health professions education at scale. He earned a degree in computer science with honors from U-M and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Read more about his approach to transforming education at scale to advance the social good in his Fall 2021 brief bio sketch.

Vani Patterson, M.P.H., Administrative Director – Oversees the Center for IPE’s day-to-day operations and manages the committees, contracted projects, and campus collaborations that advance the Center’s efforts. Previously, she worked to foster collaborative practice to improve health care in primary and school-based care settings nationally with Michigan Medicine’s Adolescent Health Initiative. She earned an M.P.H. in Environmental Health Sciences and Human Nutrition from U-M School of Public Health.

Hannah Edwards, M.H.M., Curriculum Administrative Specialist – Facilitates collaboration among health professional schools, focusing on experiential IPE and the IPE core. She has worked in higher education to foster team-based experiential learning opportunities as well as implement professional and leadership development workshops for undergraduate students in Arizona. She earned a M.H.M. (concentration in Healthcare Innovation: Quality & Reliability, Market Strategy, and Entrepreneurship), from the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.

Jessica Bixby, M.F.A., Marketing and Communications Specialist – Manages the Center for IPE’s communication’s strategy, including storytelling, social media and website content. She also serves in this role for RISE and for Medical School Communications at Michigan Medicine. Jessica joined the IPE team in 2022 after previously working at UM-Dearborn, where she was responsible for the social media communications strategy as part of the External Relations team. Prior to joining the university, Jessica was the social media specialist at The University of Akron and spent 10 years working in professional theatre. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan and an M.F.A. in theatre management from Wayne State University.

Lindsay Telega, B.A.A., Administrative Specialist – Coordinates administrative support to the director, staff, and various Center for IPE committees and workgroups, along with implementing and planning IPE activities and events. Before joining U-M, she worked as a human resources assistant for a large automotive corporation. She earned a B.A.A. in business from Central Michigan University.

General Inquiries: IPEcenter@umich.edu or 734-764-0696

Learn about the Center for IPE structure.