Barret Michalec, associate dean of Interprofessional Education for the College of Health Sciences, was named one of five Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation’s 2019 Macy Faculty Scholars. The Scholars program, open to educators in medicine and nursing schools nationwide, aims to identify innovators in medicine and nursing education and give them the resources to establish new programs at their respective institutions.
Michalec was selected from more than 70 applicants. As a Macy Scholar, he will spotlight the value of teaching empathy in an interprofessional education setting through his new program, Interprofessional Training in Empathy, Affect and Mindfulness (I-TEAM). The hybrid course combines online lectures and in-person small group activities that are developmentally progressive “workouts” to stretch and strengthen students’ empathy “muscles” and potentially promote “empathic resilience.” More than 200 students from graduate-level health profession programs, as well as undergraduate nursing students, will participate in I-TEAM when it begins in fall 2019.