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Jefferson Professor Lauren Collins, M.D., Selected as Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation 2015 Faculty Scholar

06/22/15

(PHILADELPHIA) – Thomas Jefferson University is proud to announce the selection of Lauren Collins, M.D., as a 2015 Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar, one of five selected nationwide. The Macy Faculty Scholars Program is designed to identify and nurture the careers of promising educational innovators in medicine and nursing, accelerating needed reforms in health professions education.

Dr. Collins was chosen in part because of her work in the field of interprofessional education, which focuses on teaching health professions students to work in a multidisciplinary fashion, enhance communication and improve patients’ health. “Now, more than ever, we are primed to produce a highly competent, ‘practice-ready’ workforce, dedicated to improving the experience and health outcomes of our patients,” said Dr. Collins.

“Jefferson is incredibly proud of Dr. Collins, and we are looking forward to supporting her throughout the next two years of her Macy Faculty Scholars experience,” said Christine Arenson, M.D., Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. “Jefferson is already a recognized innovator and leader in interprofessional education and practice. This award will support Dr. Collins to become our next national leader in this critical arena, and will push the envelope of interprofessional education, practice and research.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Collins to our newest class of Macy Faculty Scholars,” said Dr. George Thibault, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. “Dr. Collins’ interprofessional education project illustrates the kind of change needed in how our health professionals are trained today in order to lead the health care systems of tomorrow.”

With this award, Dr. Collins will pursue a rigorous professional development plan in addition to driving Jefferson’s innovation in interprofessional education, collaborative practice and research. She has outlined a novel longitudinal curriculum that will build on the foundation established by the Jefferson Center of InterProfessional Education, which currently introduces all Jefferson students to interprofessional education.

Dr. Collins plans to add innovative clinical programming to better prepare students for team-based care and establish them as leaders in collaborative practice. Her project will also create infrastructure to support 360 degree research, including a new mobile application platform, to evaluate the success of interprofessional teams and tie that work to patients’ health outcomes.

"Jefferson has long been at the forefront of advancing interprofessional education, and I am thrilled to help further this mission locally, regionally and nationally,” Dr. Collins said. “I look forward to working with Jefferson students, faculty, institutional leaders and community members as well as the Macy national advisory committee to provide students with new advanced collaborative practice opportunities.”

Under the program, the Macy Foundation selects five faculty leaders each year. Each Scholar receives salary support up to $100,000 per year over two years.  Scholars are nominated by the Dean of their institutions, who commit to protecting at least 50 percent of the Scholars’ time to pursue education reform projects at their institution. 

Click here for a full list of the 2015 Macy Faculty Scholars Award recipients.

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About Jefferson — Health is all we do.

Our newly formed organization, Jefferson, encompasses Jefferson Health and Thomas Jefferson University, representing our clinical and academic entities.  Together, the people of Jefferson, 19,000 strong, provide the highest-quality, compassionate clinical care for patients, educate the health professionals of tomorrow, and discover new treatments and therapies that will define the future of health care.

Jefferson Health comprises five hospitals, 13 outpatient and urgent care centers, as well as physician practices and everywhere we deliver care throughout the city and suburbs across Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks Counties in Pa., and Camden County in New Jersey.  Together, these facilities serve more than 78,000 inpatients, 238,000 emergency patients and 1.7 million outpatient visits annually.  Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the largest freestanding academic medical center in Philadelphia.  Abington Hospital is the largest community teaching hospital in Montgomery or Bucks counties.  Other hospitals include Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Center City Philadelphia; Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia; and Abington-Lansdale Hospital in Hatfield Township. 

Thomas Jefferson University enrolls more than 3,900 future physicians, scientists, nurses and healthcare professionals in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC); Jefferson Schools of Health Professions, Nursing, Pharmacy, Population Health; and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and is home of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

For more information and a complete listing of Jefferson services and locations, visit www.jefferson.edu.

About the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation

Since 1930, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation has worked to improve health care in the United States. Founded by Kate Macy Ladd in memory of her father, prominent businessman Josiah Macy Jr., the Foundation supports projects that broaden and improve health professional education. It is now the only national foundation solely dedicated to this mission. Visit the Macy Foundation at macyfoundation.org. 

 

Media Only Contact:

Gail Benner
Public Affairs Representative
Gail.Benner@Jefferson.edu
Office: 215-955-2240
Cell: 267-283-8382