The Office of Academic Clinical Affairs’ Interprofessional Internship Program, in collaboration with the Center for Interprofessional Health, welcomes 16 students from across the health sciences who have been accepted and matched with core projects co-created with our clinical and community partners in Minnesota. The themes of this year’s program focus on strengthening rural and mobile health services, mitigating sequelae of substance use, and supporting our healthcare workforce.

During the course of the projects, interns learn to apply leadership practices that support equitable and effective interprofessional collaboration toward expected deliverables. They also develop and lead a monthly professional development series for their peers, and benefit from networking and mentorship opportunities.

Take a look at this year’s cohort and the projects they will be working on:

Collaborative Mental Health Training at Allina Health

Tess Burley, BS, School of Nursing
Guldamla Kalender, BA, Medical School

Allina Health is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of illness and enhancing the greater health of individuals, families, and communities for all ages, across Minnesota. Interns will work on developing and conducting mental health/wellbeing training for employees and assist in evaluation.

Enhancing Data Collection at EA Therapeutic Health

Claire Nash, BS, Medical School
Nhi Lang, BS, Medical School
Margaret Perry, BA, School of Nursing

EA Therapeutic Health provides physical rehabilitation and adaptive health and fitness solutions to children and adults in Rochester and the greater Southeast MN community. Interns will work on implementing a new electronic data collection system for quality metrics and utilizing data to inform various communications processes, with particular attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.

Pediatric Preventative Care with Hennepin Pediatric Mobile Health

Chenwei Yan, BA, School of Public Health, College of Pharmacy
Rachel Schoneman, BS, Medical School

Hennepin Pediatric Mobile Health provides pediatric healthcare to families who are hesitant and/or unable to come to clinics or hospitals in Hennepin County. Interns will work on designing, implementing and evaluating an annual community assessment to identify key community health concerns and questions related to pediatric preventative care.

Creating Resources for Stress and Anxiety Management with the Mobile Health Initiative

Adebayo Ibikunle, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, MPH, School of Dentistry
Sara Busche, BS, Medical School

The Mobile Health Initiative offers support to increase access to healthcare services and improve health outcomes for underserved communities in the Twin Cities metro area. Interns will create evidenced-based resource guides related to stress and anxiety self management and mindfulness practices, to be shared with providers to use with patients/clients and directly with patients/clients attending mobile health events.

Building a Health Professions Career Pipeline with UMN Morris Challenge

Saliha Chaudhry, BA, Medical School
Kevan O'Hanlon, BA, School of Public Health

The UMN Morris Challenge promotes sustainability, practical solutions, and community cooperation to engage communities to improve health and quality of life. Interns will support the Challenge Director in creating and evaluating educational resource materials for high school students and high school educators, counselors, and administrators to learn more about health professions, health professions education, and preparing for possible future careers in the field.

Developing Mental Health Resources and Psychoeducation at Wayside Recovery Addiction Center

Grace De Boom, BS, School of Public Health
Minda Liu, BA, Medical School

Wayside Recovery Addiction Center provides mental health & addiction treatment for women, children, and families in the Twin Cities metro area. Interns will create a reference guide of resources and develop curriculum and provide psychoeducation to clients on various primary care topics.

Telehealth Sustainability at Wilderness Health

Katie McLaughlin, JD, Medical School
Kandeija Bagurusi, BS, Medical School

Wilderness Health is a collaborative of independent providers working together to improve health care in Northeast MN and Northwest WI, aiming to lead the transformation for rural health care systems. Interns will work on developing strategies related to the sustainability of telehealth in the service area of Wilderness Health, with attention to public policy, insurance reimbursement systems, regulatory environments, and hospital/clinic policies, procedures, and workflows.