IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Dr. Nhlanganiso Nyathi, Anglia Ruskin University (UK)

Hello, my name is Dr. Nhlanganiso Nyathi and I am an Associate Professor of Social Work at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in UK. I am originally from Zimbabwe. I am very passionate and committed to about the capacity for of interprofessional education and research in transforming in preparing health and social care students for readiness to transforming the health and well-being for vulnerable people.

I initially became curious about how a multidisciplinary approach could mitigate the challenges faced by children who survive off the streets of my home City of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s. After successfully leading a donor funded Bulawayo Taskforce on Street Children initiative, I later embarked on Doctoral research in interprofessional child protection decision making following some years interprofessional social work practice, leadership and teaching in the UK.

My proudest moments in the area of interprofessional education and research include:

• Achieving my PhD award followed by a number of publications in the area of interprofessional education and research. 
• Serving in the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care IPL strategic working group.
• Becoming a member of Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfriPEN).
• Becoming a member of Afri-VIPE (a virtual IPE under the auspices of AfriPEN).

Having contributed and impacted interprofessional education and research at university and national levels, taking this passion to a global level through IPR.Global seems quite a logical professional progression form me.

And finally, should pineapple be on pizza? 

An absolute NO!

To contact Dr. Nyathi email: Nhlanganiso.Nyathi@aru.ac.uk

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 - Celia Matyanga, University of Zimbabwe

Hello, I’m Celia Matyanga. I am a pharmacist by profession and an academic by choice. I come from Harare in Zimbabwe, currently employed as a lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of Zimbabwe). I am also a PhD candidate with the same university in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology. 

“Your network is your net worth,” (J.Rohn). My achievements are attributed to my networks and the collaborations formed, I never would’ve made it by myself.

My interest in interprofessional education and research grew from the time I completed my Masters and joined academia in 2013. Then, I worked at the Harare Institute of Technology as a pharmacy practice lecturer. In 2015, I was awarded training in operational research under the Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT), global partnership of WHO and other funders. I was privileged to work with health professionals from diverse backgrounds and nationalities and we successfully completed and published the project in Public Health Action. Thereafter, another opportunity arose through the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the African Union Scientific, Technical and Research Commission (AU-STRC). This was an international fellowship for training on research methodology and biostatistical analysis, where we networked with researchers from all over Africa and India. In 2019-2020, I participated in the Health Education Advanced Leadership Program in Zimbabwe (HEALZ). The L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa Young Talents Award and the NIH Fogarty International Center HIV/AIDS Research Training Program were other notable highlights. Currently, I am involved in the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) for the African Excellence in Research: Zimbabwe Gender in STEMM Project. This program fosters interprofessional mentorship in research.

IPR.Global is an excellent platform to network and collaborate with other researchers. Currently, I am a training in the Prof. James Hakim Leadership Development Programme that instils key leadership competencies for different health professions education leaders across African institutions. I am also a trainee in the AREF Essential Grant Writing Skills Workshop, which strengthens health research capacity of scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

And finally, should pineapple be on pizza? 

Most definitely YES! Sweet and tangy pizza with pineapple is the best.

To contact Celia, email: celiammj@yahoo.com 

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9799-136X  

LinkedIn: Celia MJ Matyanga

Twitter: @celiammj

IPR.Global Scholar Spotlight - Tamzin J. Batteson BSc, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (USA)

Hello, my name is Tamzin Batteson and I have lived in 6 different countries throughout my life (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, France, Ireland and now the United States). These life experiences have made me the person that I am, which is inquisitive, sometimes bold, and fearless, thoughtful and open minded. I am also a working artist, and I use all of these perspectives in my research. I became interested in the impact that social determinants of health and disparities have on a person’s life and life outcomes as a research assistant at the National Health Service in St. Anne’s Hospital in London. The project assessed the barriers that heavy end dual diagnosis drug users and sex workers experience in trying to get housed. This led to a long term interest in health and social disparities and how to overcome such barriers in vulnerable populations. 

I realized that many barriers existed because of the way the problems were systematically approached by government and societal structures. In order to understand how people approach and solve problems, I became interested in metacognition - how people think. 

Metacognition is the skill and process to be aware of one’s own thinking and connect the dots to concepts and patterns. This is especially helpful when training students as students learn how to learn effectively and can take their metacognitive skills to a higher level in whatever profession they choose. 

I joined the Department of Education at the University of Limerick (Ireland) as a post-doctoral fellow to assess metacognitive processes, learning styles and the ‘big five’ personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Specifically, I was interested in learning how to teach teachers how to teach more effectively and developed and taught a course on “How Students Learn” to student teachers. 

Personal circumstances led me to jump over the Big Pond and I joined RFUMS and Baldwin Interprofessional Institute in 2013 as I recognized that IPE is a new, metacognitive, way of thinking about healthcare and social disparities. The study of metacognition is very theory driven. Yet IPE did not yet have a theoretical basis or understanding. It was a big missing piece. By combining IPE and metacognitive theory, I developed a research program to conduct robust and validated research in IPE, with a grounded, testable theory. By framing the problems of patient care and social disparities using metacognitive theory to underpin IPE, I hope to bring information and understanding of new perspectives to the field. 

My current research focuses on implementing metacognitive theory into aspects of interprofessional healthcare education through simulation and diagnostic reasoning and error.  I approach the journey of an individual to being part of a team by using metacognition to assess communication and how communication works within the structure of an IP team.

Learn more about the DeWitt C. Baldwin Institute for Interprofessional Education at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science: https://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/academics/interprofessional-institute/

Contact information:  tamzin.batteson@rosalindfranklin.edu

References:

• Krishnan, G., Chu J., Guo, J., Sandu, S., Yohay, S., Zhang, J., Mihajlovic, A., Batteson, T., & Loduca, A. (2023) Beyond Cultural Humility - South Asian Cultural Specificity Training Garners Reform in Medical Curricula: A Workshop for Medical Students of Free Community Clinics. World Social Psychiatry.
• Collins, K., Garber, S., Batteson, TJ., Salih, R. (2023 Interprofessional Healthcare Themes derived through Critical Discourse Analysis. Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches
• Batteson, T. J., Chirica, M. G., Fox, K. S., Froehlich, J., Garber, S. S.,  … Thuente, L. (2023). Utilizing video simulation in interprofessional education to teach IPEC competencies and social determinants of health: A universal IPE teaching tool, Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice, Volume 31
• Bunting, S. R., Calabrese, S. K., Spigner, S. T., Goetz, T. G., Morrison, S. D., Zucker, S. M., ... & Batteson, T. J. (2022). Evaluating Medical Students' Views of the Complexity of Sexual Minority Patients and Implications for Care. LGBT health. 
• Chirica, M. G., & Batteson, T. J. (2022). Metacognition, Macro cognition and Moral Reasoning in Collaborative Team Decision-Making: Implications for Healthcare Education. Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches, 2(1).
• Bunting, S. R., Chirica, M. G., Ritchie, T. D., Garber, S. S., & Batteson, T. J. (2021). A National Study of Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: Evaluating the Effects of Demographics and Training. LGBT health, 8(1), 79-87.
• Bunting SR, Garber SS, Goldstein RH, et al. (2021). Health Profession Students' Awareness, Knowledge, and Confidence Regarding Preexposure Prophylaxis: Results of a National, Multidisciplinary Survey. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Jan;48(1):25-31.
• Bunting, S. R., Calabrese, S. K., Garber, S. S., Ritchie, T. D., & Batteson, T. J. (2021). Where Do Health Professions Students Learn About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention?. Medical Science Educator, 1-5.
• Olivier, M. M., Polachek, C. A., Park, C., Batteson, T., & LoDuca, A. L. (2020). Ocular risk factors for eye disease and associated sociodemographic factors in underserved communities within greater Chicagoland. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 61(7), 1579-1579.
• Bunting, S. R., Garber, S. S., Goldstein, R. H., Ritchie, T. D., Batteson, T. J., & Keyes, T. J. (2020). Student Education About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Varies Between Regions of the United States. Journal of general internal medicine, 1-9.
• Bunting, S.R., Saqueton, R. & Batteson, T.J. (2019). A Guide for designing student-led, interprofessional community education initiatives about HIV risk and pre-exposure prophylaxis. MedEdPORTAL
• Fewster-Thuente L, Batteson T. (2018). Teaching Collaboration Competencies to healthcare provider students through simulation. J of Allied Health. 47(1): 3-8. 
• Fewster-Thuente L, Batteson T. (2018). Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory as an underpinning for interprofessional education. J of Allied Health. 47(1): 3-8. 
• Batteson T, Garber S. (2018). Assessing constructs underlying Interprofessional Competencies through the design of a new measure of Interprofessional Education. J of Interprofessional Education and Practice. 
• Comerford, J., Batteson, T., & Tormey, R. (2015). Academic buoyancy in second level schools: Insights From Ireland. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 197, 98-103.
• Batteson, T., Tormey, R., Ritchie, T, D. (2013) Strategic approaches to learning, metacognition and personality in higher education learners; an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of three instruments. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 2561-2567.
• Rothi, D., Batteson, T. Leavey, G. (2005) Drug user consultation: Assessing housing and social care needs. Report Commissioned by the 'Drug and Alcohol Action Team' Haringey