Renowned for her work in health professional education, and specifically, interprofessional education and continuing education, Dr. Barbara Brandt serves as the director of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (National Center), a public-private partnership charged by its founders to provide the leadership, evidence, and resources needed to guide the nation on the use of interprofessional education and collaborative practice as a way to enhance the experience of health care, improve population health and reduce the overall cost of care. The National Center received initial funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, as well as the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Brandt has served as an associate vice president at the University of Minnesota for over 15 years. Under her leadership, the Academic Health Center Office of Education was formed. In the Office of Education, the University’s 1Health initiative was established to build the interprofessional practice skills of students and faculty in a broad range of health professions. In 2017, Dr. Brandt decided to focus her energies further on the national work and stepped down from the Office of Education. Still an Associate Vice President in the Academic Health Center, Dr. Brandt provides leadership in interprofessional models of education and practice integration both across the state of Minnesota and the nation.
In her leadership roles, Dr. Brandt has served as a consultant, advisor and speaker for a wide variety of organizations such as the Institute of Medicine – now the National Academy of Medicine, the National Quality Forum, the Academy of Healthcare Improvement, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, the American Nurses Association, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the American Medical Association, among many other professional and academic associations and groups.
Dr. Brandt holds a bachelor of arts in the teaching of history from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a master of education and doctor of philosophy degrees in continuing education (specializing in continuing professional education for the health professions) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2013 she was recognized as a University of Illinois Distinguished Alumna. She completed W.K. Kellogg Foundation-sponsored post-doctoral fellowship for faculty in adult and continuing education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
During the past year, the National Center team and our collaborators have conducted over 25 U.S. site visits, presented at numerous meetings, fielded hundreds of questions, and worked with national organizations to implement and set standards for IPE. Based upon our lived experiences, we are learning everyday with you. While optimistic in our mandated role as an unbiased, neutral convener, we have lots of questions about what we are observing and the future of IPE. And, we know we are not alone.