LINC Seed Grant awards support pilot projects to foster innovations in interprofessional education

The annual Linking Interprofessional Networks for Collaboration (LINC) Seed Grant Program encourages faculty and staff to develop novel interprofessional education (IPE) activities and promotes IPE research and scholarship.

The program is led by Keith Krolick, PhD, who represents the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences on the LINC Faculty Council. The council is made up of one faculty representative from each of UT Health San Antonio’s five schools, and teams of faculty and staff they lead, who acquire and disseminate knowledge about IPE.

“After 40 years of teaching, facilitating academic and financial support for so many creative educators is one of the most satisfying things I do these days,” said Dr. Krolick. “The power of interprofessional education will provide our trainees with the collaborative tools and strategies needed to ensure improved health care in the 21st century.”

The 2021 LINC Seed Grant awards will support pilot projects to enhance efforts to provide IPE at UT Health San Antonio.

Selected in May 2021, the newly funded cohort of recipients are listed below, followed by a listing of the previously funded 2019 and 2020 cohorts.

Sadie Velasquez, MD, clinical associate professor in the Long School of Medicine, collaborated with David Ojeda, DDS, clinical assistant professor in the School of Dentistry, on proposals funded in both the 2019 and 2020 cycles.

“With support from LINC, we were able to integrate a longitudinal IPE activity into both the MD and DDS curricula, where students work together in teams over a two-year period,” said Dr. Velasquez. “Importantly, LINC’s support has also helped us present outcomes within Texas and nationally, extending the reach and influence of our work.”

All of the recipients’ efforts contribute to IPE, and also to important institutional goals established for LINC, the Quality Enhancement Plan at UT Health San Antonio.

To date, 31 proposals have been submitted and 18 projects have been funded totaling $80,509. Results of several projects have been presented locally, regionally and nationally.

2021 LINC Seed Grants

A Co-Curricular IPE for Health Professions Students: A World Cafe Approach for Facilitating Knowledge about Interprofessional Collaboration and Patient-Centered Care

Pamela Recto, PhD, RN (PI); Janna Lesser, PhD, RN, FAAN (Co-PI); Andrea Moreno-Vasquez, MPH (Co-PI); Joy Nida Emko, MD, FAAFP (Co-PI); Jose Zapata Jr., MSS (Co-PI)     

Health, Equity and the Environment 

Adelita Cantu, RN, PhD (PI); Tatjana Walker, MPH, RN, RDN, CDCES, CPH (Co-PI); Roger Perales, MPH (Co-PI); Raymond Palmer, PhD (Co-PI); Sandra Curtis, PhD 

Interprofessional Co-Curricular Outreach Program to Promote Healthcare as a Career Opportunity in Underrepresented Minorities in Southwest San Antonio

Darpan Patel, PhD (PI); Irene Chapa, PhD (Co-PI); David Byrd, PhD

Interprofessional Collaboration Including VR and Case Studies for Improved Dementia Care Outcomes

Carol Nguyen, MS (PI); Rebekah Sculley, BSDH, RDH (Co-PI); Carole White, PhD, RN, FAAN (Co-PI); Laura Novak, OTD, OTR, BCG (Co-PI); Jennifer Brackett, MS (Co-PI)

Interprofessional Training with Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Physician Assistant (PA) Students Using Interprofessional Education (IPE) Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs)

Sarah Knoeckel, DNP, FNP, MSN, RN (PI); Paula Christianson-Silva, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, ANP-BC (Co-PI); Steven Skaggs, MPAS (Co-PI); Leticia Bland, DHSc, MPAS, PA-S (Co-PI)

Shades of Success

Irene Chapa, PhD (PI); Sekinat McCormick, MD (Co-PI)

2020 LINC Seed Grants

Clinical Interprofessional Education with Dental and Pharmacy Students to Optimize Pain Management Prescribing in a Dental Surgical Setting

Rebecca Moote, PharmD (PI); Tam Van, DDS (Co-PI); Justina Lipscomb, PharmD (Co-PI); Kirk Evoy, PharmD (Co-PI)

Developing an Interprofessional Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) for Health Literacy

Melanie Stone, MPH, MEd (PI); Kristy Kosub, MD (Co-PI); Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR; Rebekah Sculley, RDH; Oralia Bazaldua, PharmD

Interprofessional Education to Enhance the Integration of Oral Health and Medicine: A Longitudinal Study

Sadie Trammell Velasquez, MD (PI); David Ojeda Diaz, DDS (Co-PI); Arthur Don Shaw, DDS; Diane Ferguson, BSN, RN; Cristina Grijalva, MD; Deborah Chang, PhD; Jeff Jackson, EdD

Improving Patient Outcomes through Interprofessional Vascular Sonography Training

Rekha Kar, PhD (PI); Alan Sakaguchi, PhD (Co-PI); Craig Sisson, MD; Omid Rahimi, PhD; Roland Paquette, PA-C; Kimatha Oxford Grice, OTD, OTR, CHT; Ameet Nagpal, MD

Interprofessional Training with Advanced Practice Nurse, Dietetic, and Pharmacy Students Using Nutrition-Focused Case Studies

Wendy Lee, DNP (PI); Christiane Meireles, PhD (Co-PI); Paula Christianson-Silva, DNP (Co-PI); Kirk Evoy, PharmD (Co-PI); Liset Leal-Vasquez, PhD (Co-PI)

2019 LINC Seed Grants

Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorder Interprofessional Education

Juanita Lozano-Pineda, DDS, MPH (PI); Kimatha Oxford Grice, OTD, OTR, CHT (Co-PI); Ricky Joseph, PhD, OTR (Co-PI); Michael Geelhoed, DPT, OCS, MTC (Co-PI)

Head, Ears, Nose, Oral, and Throat Physical Exam Interprofessional Education

Sadie Trammell Velasquez, MD (PI); David Ojeda Diaz, DDS (Co-PI); Diane Ferguson, BSN, RN; Cristina Grijalva, MD; Michaell Huber, DDS; Arthur Don Shaw, DDS

Promoting Interprofessional Collaborative Education (PrICE) for Veterans

M. Danet Lapiz Bluhm, PhD, RN, MSCI (PI); Leticia Bland, DHsc, MPAS, PA-C; Byron Hepburn, MD; Alan Peterson, PhD, ABPP; Robert M. Taft, DDS

Transformative Interprofessional Education: Implementing a Workshop on Interprofessional Collaboration and Communication

Jason Morrow, MD, PhD, FAAHPM (PI); Carlos Herrera, BS, MOT student

Trifecta: When Social Determinants of Health, Interprofessional Education and a School Based Prevention Program Meet

Adelita Cantu, PhD, RN (PI); Rebekah Salt, PhD, RN (Co-PI); Georgiana Gross, MPH, RD/LD (Co-PI)

VAPE: Vaping Assessment, Prevention and Education Project

Tammy Harris, DMSc, MPAS, PA-C (PI); Leticia Bland, DHsc, MPAS, PA-C; Ryan Van Ramshorst, MD, FACP; Roland Paquette, MPAS, PA-C; Meredith Quinene, DSc, MPAS, PA-C; Thomas Stokes, Jr., MEd, RTT; Sandeep Subramanian, BPTh, PhD

We Care: Learning Together to Support Family Caregivers

Carole White, PhD, RN, FAAN (PI); Jennifer Brackett, MSG; Cindy Sikora, DNP, RN; Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR; Precious Osuoha, PhD, OTR; Fang-Ling Lu, PhD, CCC-SLP; Rocio Norman, PhD, CCC-SLP

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Learn more about the LINC Seed Grant Program.

Read LINC advances interprofessional education to train health care leaders.



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