IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Kaprea Johnson, Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)

Hello, I am Dr. Kaprea Johnson, and I am a tenured associate professor of Counselor Education at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA USA. Within this area I focus on how interprofessional education and collaboration between graduate level mental health and allied health care students can improve patient outcomes. I am currently the Director of the Equity Research Lab, in which collaborative projects focus on equity issues in screening children and transitional aged youth for social inequities (i.e., discrimination, food and housing insecurity, income inequality), school/mental health counselor training needs to address social inequities, and interrogating systems that perpetuate inequities (i.e., education and healthcare systems). 

These innovative lines of research have helped our team of interprofessional collaborators in garnering over $5 million in grants. In addition, I have conducted over 100 presentations/ or trainings, have two books, several non-refereed practitioner focus publications, and 53 peer reviewed publications in national and international journals in counseling, education, and allied health. Additionally, I have a consulting and coaching practice that supports organizations and professionals interested in solutions for justice, diversity, healing, and equity.

Contact Dr. Kaprea Johnson: johnsonkf@vcu.edu

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

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IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Gérard Filies, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

My name is Dr. Gérard Filies, and I am a registered Occupational Therapist by profession with a B.Sc. (Occupational Therapy) degree from the University of the Western Cape. I also have an M.Phil. (Health Sciences Education) Master’s degree from Stellenbosch University and obtained a PhD degree from the University of the Western Cape (UWC). My wife, Dr Sylnita Swartz-Filies, and I made history at UWC in 2018 by being the first married couple to both graduate with PhD degrees in the same ceremony. We were acknowledged by the Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa as the first married Occupational Therapy couple to achieve this accolade in the Western Cape. In 2019 we received the platinum award for the most inspirational couple from the I Do Magazine annual award ceremony in Johannesburg. The title of my PhD study was: Development of an interprofessional education model that aims to instill the core competencies of interprofessional collaborative practice in allied health students’ curriculum. 

At UWC, I am employed as a full time senior lecturer within the Interprofessional Education Unit (IPEU) in the Faculty of Community & Health Sciences. Responsibilities include: curriculum development, lectures, research, facilitation of faculty development workshops, co-ordination of interprofessional activities with postgraduate and undergraduate students, interprofessional supervision of students; and development of community sites for interprofessional placement of students for fieldwork. Research areas of interest include: Interprofessional Education, Service-Learning, Health Promotion, Primary Health Care and Community-Based Education. His current research project includes the use of 3D printing in interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Current teaching responsibilities at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels are: Primary Health Care, Interdisciplinary Health Promotion, Interprofessional Education World Café workshops, Interprofessional Ethics and Shared Research Methods. I am part of a team and was appointed as convenor for driving the process for registration and accreditation of the Postgraduate Diploma in Interprofessional Education and Health – a first of its kind in the Western Cape, if not a first in South Africa. The programme is currently being planned for implementation in August 2021. 

I have been invited by the Universities of Missouri and Winston Salem State University in the United States of America to develop their Interprofessional Education curriculum in 2018 and 2019. I was also invited to the Nelson Mandela University in 2019 as a guest speaker for interprofessional education and has facilitated a webinar series on interprofessional education and collaborative practice between 2019 and 2020 as part of capacity development for faculty members. I also served as the secretariat of the African Interprofessional Network (AfrIPEN) from 2017 to 2018 and is a member of Interprofessional Research.Global (IPR.Global).

Contact Dr. Gérard Filies: gfilies@uwc.ac.za

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

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Share your Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice research with a Global audience!

 

Submit a “Scholar Spotlight” for the Interprofessional Research.Global blog!

Write a paragraph or two on your interests and current work and share a photo, submitting through the following link: https://slu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_20mcK3xSaIDaHWt 

Feel free to share anything about your work, here are some ideas on what you could include:

• Who are you? Where are you from? And what is your role?

• How did you first get involved in interprofessional education and research?

• What achievement are you most proud of in the area of interprofessional education and research?

• What does IPR.Global mean to you?

• What is your favorite pizza? (does pineapple even belong on pizza?) 

Include a photo and social media handles, so we can share to your network!

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Vikki Park, Northumbria University (UK)

Hi, my name is Dr. Vikki Park. I’m a Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK. It’s great to get the chance to virtually meet you all and I look forward to reading other member profiles in the weeks that follow. My clinical expertise is in critical care and my passion for interprofessional education (IPE) started whilst nursing and has continued into my academic career. So much so that I recently completed my PhD exploring interprofessional learning culture in adult critical care and am looking forward to publishing and further disseminating my findings. If you are intrigued (or perhaps have insomnia and are looking for a cure) you can find my thesis here: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/45621/

I have a leadership role with IPE within my university which supports around 3000 students from 9 professional fields per year. As well as researching, teaching, facilitating, and leading interprofessional activities, I’ve recently become an active member of IPR.Global and have joined the Communication Taskforce. New members are always welcome, so do get it touch and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across the world to promote interprofessional research. In the UK, the national organisation for IPE is CAIPE (Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education) and I am a research working group member, in addition to being a member of INHWE (International Network for Health Workforce Education) an international organisation bringing healthcare educators and researchers together from all disciplines. 

It’s an exciting time for interprofessional collaboration and the COVID pandemic has emphasised the need for health and social care professionals to work together effectively more than ever on a global scale. I’m looking forward to contributing to international interprofessional research and sharing best practice with the goal of promoting high quality safe holistic patient care! 

Contact Dr. Vikki Park: vikki2.park@northumbria.ac.uk

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

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