NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF PRACTICE (NAP)
ANNOUNCES ANNUAL AWARD WINNERS
Each year at the National Academies of Practice (NAP) Annual Membership Banquet and Induction Ceremony, NAP bestows awards to truly deserving candidates who are nominated by their peers. This year’s awards were presented on March 16, 2024, during a gala at the Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville, FL.
The Creativity in Practice & Education Award was established to recognize and encourage interprofessional programs, projects, and models which focus on the improvement of healthcare. This year the award recipient was the Kern Collaboratory Faculty Fellowships in Interprofessional Leadership.
The Kern Collaboratory Faculty Fellowships in Interprofessional Leaderships project is titled, “Transforming Healthcare Education by Educating Faculty Leaders in the post-COVID Era.” The program focuses on the development of the high-level professional and relational abilities necessary to create interprofessional leadership and professionalism at the individual and organizational levels, along with joyful practice, resilience, team functioning, and collaboration.
The National Academies of Practice Interprofessional Group Recognition Award is presented to a group who has made enduring contributions to interprofessional practice and education. This year the award had two recipients: Auburn University Rural Health Coalition (AURHC) and the Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative (IPC).
The Auburn University Rural Health Coalition was initiated in 2020 and their primary goal is to elevate Auburn University’s leadership in addressing the health of Alabama citizens through interprofessional education. The outreach and research components of the AURHC provide students with unique educational experiences that complement their classroom learning and expose them to disciplines beyond their own, while contributing to the health of rural and underserved communities.
The Interprofessional Professionalism Collaborative was established in 2006 to bring health profession organizations together to discuss what professionalism “looks like” for each of the professions represented within the group. In answering that question, the IPC members defined a new construct known as Interprofessional Professionalism (IPP) and subsequently developed the Interprofessional Professionalism Assessment (IPA) instrument, various educational resources, and seminal published works.
The National Academies of Practice Patient Advocacy Award recognizes a patient or care partner whose lived experience transformed them, and, in turn, they are transforming healthcare to enhance the well-being of others. This year the award was bestowed upon Ted Meyer.
Ted Meyer was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition as a child and subsequently encountered a wide range of healthcare providers during his frequent hospital stays. Ted met an art teacher while he was in the hospital and his passion for expressing his medical experiences through art was ignited. He uses his art as a medium to explore narratives of the human condition while simultaneously teaching the medical community how treatments affect patients in the long term by creating images of pained and contorted bodies or scarred and transformed people. Ted’s art also functions as a healing document for those affected by trauma and he hopes to make strong, beautiful images that tell stories of strength, survival, and compassion.
The Emerging Interprofessional National Academies of Practice Member of the Year Award was created to recognize an early to mid-career professional working in interprofessional care, serving as an exemplar, and demonstrating future promise in contributing to interprofessional practice and to our association. This year the award was bestowed upon a Distinguished Fellow, Sarah A. Manspeaker, PhD, LAT, ATC, FNAP and a Professional Member, Sara E. North, PT, DPT, PhD, MEd, PNAP.
Dr. Sarah Manspeaker was inducted as a Distinguished Scholar Fellow in the Class of 2022 and is an active member of the association as the current Chair-Elect of the Athletic Training Academy. This award recognizes her efforts in the areas of interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative scholarship including a strong record of publications, recruitment of members to the National Academies of Practice, and advocacy for interprofessional practice.
Dr. Sara North was inducted as a Professional Member in the Class of 2022 and is an active member of the association as the current Communications Committee Chair for the Physical Therapy Academy. She has been engaged in the interprofessional education and practice space as a full-time Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) faculty member for over eight years with two academic institutions and she demonstrates high promise as a dedicated contributor to NAP initiatives.
Lastly, the National Academies of Practice Optometry Academy bestowed their distinguished James A. Boucher Award of Excellence. The award is presented to a member of the academy who has demonstrated exemplary contributions to the profession of optometry and the healthcare field and has upheld the mission of NAP to advance science and the concept of interdisciplinary healthcare. This year, the recipient of the award is Clarke Newman, OD, FAAO, FNAP.
For more information on NAP, please visit NAPractice.org or email [email protected].
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