On Tuesday, October 5 St. Kate鈥檚 hosted an Interprofessional Education (IPE) forum on racism in housing to explore the historical and current day impacts of community, health, and wealth, looking further into St. Kate鈥檚 . The forum started with presentations from multiple faculty members, and then facilitated small and large group discussions. Students from across disciplines and degree levels connected at the event to brainstorm education, prevention, and solution strategies from clinical, economic, social justice, data science, public health, and policy perspectives. The event was co-developed by Center for Community Work and Learning and faculty members, with Master of Public Health (MPH) faculty Liz Allen, PhD, convening the planning committee over the summer. Over 80 people participated.
"It was really terrific for our Nurse Practitioner (NP) students to participate in an IPE event that extended beyond the school of health and health disciplines. St. Kate鈥檚 offers a rich liberal arts experience for students that builds deeper understandings of the connections between history, finance, politics, and health," said nursing faculty Kara Koschman, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC. "This was a learning experience that inspired curiosity and it will impact these students and will shape them as just healthcare providers.鈥
"I think that more schools should do this for students so that they can see some certain topics from different perspectives/lenses," said student Pasha Chang MPH鈥22. "Having students learn to work with others outside of their majors/program helps prepare them for that kind of work... I just loved that everyone鈥檚 voice was at the table and different ideas were brought up and discussed. I felt that the scope of the problem was looked more deeply into."
Work leading up to the event, the event itself, and continued efforts to explore systemic racism in housing connect strongly to the University鈥檚 GHR Foundation Academic Excellence Grant (AEG) goals.
We look forward to the next IPE event!