CAIEP announces fall 2026 interprofessional programming and events
The Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice (CAIEP) at the University of New England has announced its fall lineup of events aimed at fostering interprofessional and interdisciplinary approaches to health science education.
Each semester, CAIEP convenes students, faculty, practicing clinicians, and community partners together with local and national experts from UNE’s 14 healthcare programs to explore the most critical issues facing the healthcare professions today. These interprofessional, interactive events strengthen connections and demonstrate how these issues can all benefit from a team approach.
All are welcome to join the noontime events via Zoom to interact with speakers, students, and community members.
In addition to expanding understanding of emergent healthcare issues, participation strengthens student understanding and application of the communication, teamwork, ethical, and collaborative leadership skills that are increasingly sought by employers and healthcare organizations. Each of the four interdisciplinary events this fall can be applied toward a student’s Interprofessional Honors Distinction application to earn a nationally recognized digital credential that demonstrates students’ readiness for collaborative practice.
"At UNE, we believe the most pressing healthcare challenges cannot be solved by any single profession or discipline acting alone. CAIEP creates opportunities for students, faculty, clinicians, and community partners to learn with, from, and about one another while tackling real-world issues ranging from rural healthcare access and chronic disease management to environmental sustainability and patient safety,” said Kris Hall, M.F.A., the CAIEP director. “These events strengthen workforce readiness, expand community partnerships, and help ensure that UNE graduates enter practice prepared to succeed in collaborative healthcare environments."
In addition to hands on learning for students and alumni in the UNE’s anatomical laboratory and state-of-the-art clinical simulation facilities, Anatomy Lab, and Simulation Center, this semester’s series of CAIEP events are offered in collaboration with several regional and national partners, including MaineHealth, the state’s largest network of hospitals and providers; the Maine Primary Care Association (MPCA); the New England College of Optometry; the Maine Area Health Education Network, administered through UNE’s Center for Public Health Practice (AHEC); faculty from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; the UNE’s Master of Public Health program; and UNE’s Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center (ISIC).
Featured topics include:
- Understanding the community health center model’s support for team-based approaches, taught with a focus on Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
- What the eye can tell us about systemic disease, taught in partnership with the New England College of Optometry
- The importance of collaborative bleeding disorder care, taught with the MaineHealth Hematology clinic
- Anesthesia’s climate impact, taught in collaboration with the UNE’s Shaw Institute of for Public and Planetary Health
In addition, a virtual fall interprofessional student showcase will be held on Dec. 2 from 12 to 1 p.m., a dynamic hour that will highlight the value in UNE’s interdisciplinary approach as graduate and undergraduate student teams showcase their innovative projects aimed at advancing patient care.
For this and more interprofessional opportunities offered by UNE’s Service-Learning, a Anatomy, and Simulation simulation units on the Portland Campus for the Health Sciences, visit CAIEP's fall calendar at https://www.une.edu/caiep/events. Past recorded events can also be found in the CAIEP video archive.
For questions, contact Michelle Cote, mcote8@une.edu.