Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the third annual West Michigan Interprofessional Education Conference!

Grand Valley State University and our partners in education, Grand Rapids Medical Education Partners and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, are working together to design and implement an innovative model of Interprofessional Education and Practice in our community. The foundation of our model are the Institute of Medicine’s core competencies of patient centered care, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, the use of informatics, and interprofessional teams.

Over this past year, 133 community members from 32 health care organizations joined together to serve on 6 champion work groups to improve the education of our students and the care available in our community. Our education and practice partners have been integral to the work of exploring new approaches for enhancing curricula through virtual, simulated, and clinical learning experiences. Our first Interprofessional Education Conference provided the synergy, excitement, and commitment to move our ideas and dream into a formal structure of Champion Work Groups to accomplish goals and our second conference highlighted our partnerships and work activities. More