Interprofessional Education Resource Center

Dr. Diana Paz, Associate Dean for IPE, Clinical Education and Affiliation and Placement 

Healthcare is undergoing a transformation—one that places collaboration at the center of meaningful, high-quality care. Today’s most effective care is no longer delivered in silos but through integrated teams that include patients, their families or caregivers, and professionals from diverse disciplines working in partnership. The World Health Organization (WHO) affirms that collaborative practice emerges when “multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients [and their caregivers] to deliver the highest quality of care.” This model is not simply an aspiration; it is the future of healthcare.

To realize this future, we must reimagine how we educate the next generation of health professionals. Interprofessional Education (IPE) is the foundation of this transformation. The WHO defines IPE as learning that occurs when “students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.” Through intentional, shared learning experiences, students move beyond discipline-specific knowledge to cultivate mutual respect, communication, and a unified commitment to patient-centered care. These competencies power interprofessional collaborative practice—where teams come together to assess, plan, and deliver care that is safer, more efficient, and more equitable. As the Institute of Medicine has highlighted, such collaboration drives better outcomes, including improved quality of care, reduced costs, shorter hospital stays, and fewer medical errors.

At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s College of Health Professions (COHP), we see IPE not just as an educational strategy, but as a responsibility—and an opportunity to lead. We are committed to preparing a workforce that is not only practice-ready, but future-ready: professionals who can navigate complexity, embrace teamwork, and champion health equity in every setting.

Our location along the Texas–Mexico border uniquely shapes this vision. Here, the challenges of low health literacy, high poverty, and a predominantly Spanish-speaking population call for culturally responsive, community-engaged care. COHP’s IPE initiatives are intentionally designed to meet these realities—equipping students with the skills, empathy, and adaptability needed to serve diverse populations with excellence and dignity.

In advancing interprofessional education, we are not only preparing students for the healthcare system of today—we are shaping the collaborative, compassionate, and innovative system of tomorrow.

VISION:

A Nationally recognized program Educating, Training and Preparing the gold standard future healthcare interprofessional team structured systematically to ensure excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion for South Texas families and beyond.  Unidos por su salud!

MISSION:

Our mission is to lead interprofessional education by equipping health professions students with the skills, values, and collaborative experience needed to deliver equitable, high-quality patient care in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.