Welcome to the USF Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) at the University of South Florida. At USF Health, we are working together to Make Life Better across our colleges and health professions to shape the future of health care by improving the health and well-being of our patients and communities. We leverage interprofessionalism as one of the key values of USF Health reflected daily by all of our students, staff, faculty, leadership and health care providers.

What is interprofessionalism? It is the idea that seamless communication and high-functioning teamwork between health care professionals will improve patient safety, patient and provider satisfaction, health outcomes, and reduce costs.

Working together effectively in today’s health care system starts with learning together. With so many different types of health care professionals involved in patient and community-centered care, everyone must collaborate. Interprofessional education at USF Health creates an environment where we can grow further as individuals and see ourselves in others, building trust and respect based on shared experiences.

We have taken bold steps to lay the foundation for successful collaborative practice needed in today’s health care environment through real-world, cross-disciplinary learning, hands-on clinical and community experiences, simulation-based training, and advanced technologies. I encourage our students, faculty, staff, and affiliated partners, both locally and globally, to harness the collective and diverse entities within USF Health to Make Life Better together. We all play a vital role in advancing the quality of health care in the Tampa Bay region and beyond.

Sincerely,
Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH
Executive Director, USF Health, CAMLS
Chief Executive Officer, USF Health Professions Conferencing Corporation
Associate Vice President, Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice, USF Health
Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Morsani College of Medicine
Past President, Society for Simulation in Healthcare