IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Sarah Meiklejohn, Monash University (Melbourne, Australia)

Open communication between IPE educators, accreditation authorities and health services is essential

Dr Sarah Meiklejohn is a dietitian, educator and researcher based at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She is currently a Lecturer and Education Coordinator at the Monash Centre for Scholarship in Health Education (MCSHE), and a Research Fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University.  As an emerging methodology in health professions education, Sarah is currently sharing this applied knowledge and expertise of policy analysis across a variety of national projects. She is best known for her research focused on work integrated learning, interprofessional education and collaborative practice, accreditation, certification and regulatory policy in health professions education.

I first became involved in interprofessional education and research through my role as a Lecturer into the Masters of Dietetics at Monash University. Interprofessional practice was such a core part of my practice as a community dietitian and health promotion practitioner that I was drawn to teaching and research opportunities in this area.

Our team at Monash University was recently recognised at the 2023 All Together Better Health Conference in Qatar for our Collaborative Care Curriculum, where we received an Interprofessional.Global Award to celebrate and honour our achievements in global interprofessional collaboration. I am very proud of this achievement as it showcases the value and importance of long-term investments in interprofessional education and commitment to the development of meaningful relationships with shared goals.

As an Early Career Researcher, Interprofessional.Global is a key network for not only developing my capacity as an educator and researcher, but for shared learning and mentoring across global and regional networks to improve collaborative practice and interprofessional learning across all healthcare networks.

Finally, pineapple may only be on pizza when in the form of a Hawaiian or “the LOT” pizza, but under no other circumstances!

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Jill Thistlethwaite, NSW Health and University of Technology (Sydney, Australia)

Hi. I'm Jill Thistlethwaite originally from Manchester in the north of England; now living in Australia 300km north of Sydney.  I work with the Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) of NSW Health and am an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). I was the editor-in-chief of The Clinical Teacher until December 2020.  One of my passions is writing and I have published books, book chapters and articles on IPE over the last twenty-five years including Values-based interprofessional collaborative practice (2012) and a series of four edited books with Dawn Forman (UK) and Marion Jones (New Zealand) focusing on leadership in IPE with chapters from authors around the globe.  

I trained as a general practitioner (family doctor) in England and worked full-time in a semi-rural practice there for 10 years. My involvement with medical education began in general practice as a GP trainer and postgraduate GP program organiser. In the early 1990s we developed some sessions for GP registrars and practice nurses, which was my 1st experience of IPE. In 1996 I became a senior lecturer in medical education and general practice at Leeds University and was invited by Prof Hugh Barr to become an associate editor for the Journal of Interprofessional Care a few years later.  

In partnership with colleagues, I have developed IPE at several universities in the UK and Australia. I was a founder member of AIPPEN (the Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network).   A team I led with academics from Australia, the UK and Canada received an Australian grant in 2012 to develop a teamwork assessment instrument, iTOFT: the individual teamwork and observation feedback tool.   

I am most proud of being a Fulbright senior scholar at the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education in Minneapolis in 2014 and being invited to speak at the Institute of Medicine in Washington DC on ‘what is evidence in relation to IPE?’ I have also had the honour to be an invited speaker and facilitator in many countries including Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia.  

IPR.Global to me is a community of practice of which I have been a member since 2012. We need high quality research and evaluation to explore the impact of IPE and collaborative practice, and what works for whom and in what contexts.  

Find me on Twitter @jthistlethwaite 

I do sometimes homebake pizza and would never add pineapple. 

Interprofessional Research.Global Scholar Spotlight is a regular feature that highlights member research in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.  

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