More than 1,200 participants joined in person and online at the University of South Florida Marshall Student Center on Nov. 12 for USF Health鈥檚 annual celebration of teamwork and collaboration, an event where disciplines collide and real-world health solutions take shape.
USF Health鈥檚 8th Interprofessional Education (IPE) Day, coordinated in partnership with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), embraced a bold vision of uniting future health care leaders across disciplines and borders. This year marked the first time USF partnered with an international university to co-facilitate the annual event.
鈥淵our presence today represents the very heart of interprofessional education, which is connection, curiosity and shared purpose,鈥� said Haru Okuda, MD, chief executive officer of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation and associate vice president of the USF Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice. 鈥淎s the world continues to connect, it鈥檚 important for us to not remain isolated in our own countries to solve global problems.鈥�
The morning kicked off with a panel discussion featuring distinguished environmental and health care experts from USF, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and UNAM, who shared insights on effective teamwork and communication.
Following the panel, more than 100 students representing USF Health鈥檚 colleges and programs participated in an interprofessional research competition designed to mirror the collaborative demands of modern health care. 12 interdisciplinary teams were assigned one of four global health topics 鈥� substance use disorder, diabetes and food insecurity, disaster preparedness and health care misinformation 鈥� and challenged to develop an innovative research proposal using the fast-paced and image-driven PechaKucha presentation format.
The competition unfolded over two rounds of judging, with top teams advancing to the championship round. This year鈥檚 winning team addressed diabetes and food insecurity, creating an interdisciplinary plan to appraise current care and lifestyle practices, evaluate access to nutritious foods and implement education programs for food-insecure adults living with Type 2 diabetes in Tampa鈥檚 University Area Community.
鈥淎s a first-year undergraduate student, I learned so much about the research process from students pursuing graduate and professional degrees,鈥� said Summer Anne De Jesus, a representative of the USF Health College of Nursing and member of the championship team. 鈥淭his experience truly opened my eyes to research and how important it is to seek and embrace multiple points of view to solve problems.鈥�
For Ana Carolina Sep煤lveda Vild贸sola, MD, dean of medicine at UNAM, the day was an embodiment of the power of international partnerships in health education.
鈥淭oday, we witnessed what can be achieved when two institutions come together with a common purpose 鈥� to learn from one another and build knowledge without borders,鈥� said Dr. Vild贸sola. 鈥淭he theme that brought us here reminded us that the greatest challenges in health can鈥檛 be solved from a single perspective. They demand dialogue, mutual respect and the integration of diverse expertise.鈥�
