Elise Rasmussen, a medical student, and Benjamin Call, a prosthetics and orthotics student, root for their team in the Knowledge Bowl.

Convergence collaborates with established learning communities to bring students together for interactive, interprofessional education. Goals and curricula are developed together by faculty and student representatives from the participating schools: UT Southwestern Medical School, UT Southwestern School of Health Professions, Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing, UT Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation, and Texas Tech University School of Pharmacy.

Each school supports a unique learning community design. These different designs serve as structures for advancing interprofessional education among the three schools. The learning communities of UT Southwestern are:

Academic Colleges

The UT Southwestern Medical School sponsors Academic Colleges. Each of the six Academic Colleges brings together clinical teaching faculty as mentors for small groups of students. Students are mentored in clinical medicine and reasoning, interpersonal and communication skills, ethics, professionalism, and human behavior.

Interprofessional Development, Education, and Active Learning (IDEAL) Teams

The UT Southwestern School of Health Professions sponsors Interprofessional Development, Education, and Active Learning (IDEAL) teams. Each team is composed of a small group of students from the various health professions training programs. Faculty advisers who have experience with interdisciplinary communication and other skills lead the groups.