Dr. Cara English, DBH, CEO and Director of the Doctor of Behavioral Health program at Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies, has been appointed to co-chair the newly formed Special Interest Group (SIG) of the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) on the topic of Education with co-chair, Dr. Anne Wojtak, DrPH, Executive Lead for Transformation at the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network and Faculty at the University of Toronto, Canada. The Education SIG will focus its work and efforts on the topics of leadership competencies and interprofessional education for integrated care.
The SIG’s membership includes representatives from around the globe. Many of the participating members work in existing education programs or are developing new education programs focused on integrated care. Members included Helen Rainey and Elaine Gifford of the University of the West of Scotland, Chris Gibbs of the Mental Health Professionals’ Network of Australia, Robin Miller of the University of Birmingham, Lynne Sinclair of the University of Toronto, Marlou de Kuiper of HU International, University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Carlos Moreno Leguizamon of the University of Greenwich, Frances Barraclough of the University of Sydney, Aine Carrol of the University College Dublin, and Jason Yap of the National University of Singapore.
In response to the formation of the Education SIG, Dr. English and co-chair Dr. Wojack shared, “It is wonderful that there is a group of individuals from around the world who are interested in coming together to share ideas and knowledge to advance education in integrated care.”
The inaugural meeting of the Education SIG will take place in the upcoming weeks. Potential projects include creating an inventory of integrated care education programs from around the globe, sharing knowledge, identifying areas of potential research, and developing a workshop on Education for the Integrated Conference for Integrated Care conference taking place in 2019, in San Sebastian, Basque Country. Anyone interested in joining the SIG are welcome to express interest in joining by contacting cenglish@cgi.edu.
