MISSION: The mission of CUNY’s Interprofessional Education, Research and Practice (IPER) initiative for health and human service (HHS) programs is to transform education within and between CUNY’s health and human service programs, disciplines, and campuses to prepare future and practicing professions with the knowledge, values and skills needed to successfully participate in collaborative clinical and community teams.

IPE DEFINED: Interprofessional education and practice is defined as experiences when two or more HHS professions learn with, about and from each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes.

CUNY’S HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICE PROGRAMS: With CUNY’s uniquely broad and diverse health professions education programs (at the AS, BS, MS, MPH, MD, and PhD levels), we have the potential to improve health care education and health outcomes by offering an accessible and inclusive approach for IPE through realistic patient scenarios and faculty-trained IPE facilitators to engage students across HHS disciplines in interprofessional learning experiences.

IPE LEARNING EXPERIENCES: These IPE learning experiences address skills training and prepare students for the evolving practice of health and human services. This initiative also aligns with our mission for equitable and accessible higher education and the joining of health disciplines across CUNY campuses to improve student learning experiences and demonstrate the importance of teamwork and collaboration.

HEALTH EQUITY: A signature component of CUNY’s IPER efforts is the integration of health equity into all IPE learning activities to build awareness that unconscious bias exists and to help students take steps to reduce the likelihood that bias will impact their care and patient outcomes. Most importantly, it is a critical component of CUNY’s mission to advance health equity, particularly for New York’s most vulnerable populations.