Coordinated and Collaborative Approach
The CIH team works closely with the Associate Deans for Education and program directors and across the health professions to ensure that our interprofessional education curriculum is strategically integrated through a coordinated and collaborative approach.
CIH Leadership
Center Staff
Core Faculty Team
CIH Executive Committee Members
Tamera Alpaugh, PhD, MLS(ASCP)
Dr. Alpaugh is a certified medical laboratory scientist with a MS in Management and PhD in Higher Education Leadership, Policy, and Management. Her current role is working as an Assistant Professor with the Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) Program at the University of Minnesota where she teaches and works as the Clinical Education Director. She also works with the free student-run Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) each year to provide training and support to the laboratory volunteers and coordinator.
Email: [email protected]
Amy Haynes, DPT, PT
Dr. Haynes has been a licensed, practicing physical therapist for the past 10 years. She has a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Minnesota, graduated in 2012. She is currently practicing at TRIA Orthopedic Center and is an adjunct professor at Rasmussen University.
Email: [email protected]
Laura Kirk, RN, BSN, MS, PhD
Dr. Kirk joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in 2014 and is a clinical associate professor. She teaches in both the prelicensure programs within the school of nursing (BSN and Masters of Nursing) and in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Her research interests center on the health and well-being of older adults across care settings. Dr. Kirk serves as a content expert for the Office of Interprofessional Continuing Professional Development (OICPD) within the National Center Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, and advises on the development of continuing professional development programs.
Email: [email protected]
Fang (Alice) Lei, MSN, MPH, RN
Alice is an assistant professor at the UMN School of Nursing. Her current area of interest focuses on health disparities in minority populations, specifically the health and health behaviors of minority smokers.
Email: [email protected]
Catherine McCarty, PhD, MPH, HEC-C, RD
Dr. McCarty is the Associate Dean for Research for the Medical School on the Duluth campus. She is a certified healthcare ethicist and teaches medical ethics to first and second year medical students on the Duluth campus. She is a Co-Thread lead for public health for the new Medical School curriculum at the University of Minnesota.
Email: [email protected]
Brooke Palmer, PhD, LP
Dr. Palmer is a Clinical Health Psychologist who provides psychological interventions to individuals living with acute and chronic health conditions within inpatient and outpatient settings. She has a particular interest in consultation-liaison psychology and working with healthcare colleagues to support patients admitted to the hospital for a range of health issues. She has worked with interprofessional learners doing Hotspotting work while a psychology trainee and has been engaged in interprofessional education efforts while at the University of Minnesota.
Email: [email protected]
Jennifer Brown, PhD, MLS(ASCP)cm
Dr. Brown is an assistant professor at the UMN Medical Laboratory Sciences Program. She has a PhD in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, and Genetics, with 30 years of experience in research and medical laboratories. Dr. Brown’s primary focus is clinical toxicology and chemistry, particularly utilizing mass spectrometry for drug analysis, medication monitoring, and automated chemistry workflows. Special interests include using technology to work more efficiently, health informatics, and promoting the value of the medical laboratory profession.
Email: [email protected]
Rebecca Kamil, Board Certified Chaplin, Ordained Rabbi
Rebecca is a staff chaplain at M Health Fairview, with a focus in the Intensive Care Units. She is board certified through Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains, and is also an ordained Reform rabbi.
Email: [email protected]
Traci Kruse, OTD, MA, OTR/L
Dr. Kruse is currently the Director of Experiential Learning at the University of Minnesota. She has practiced clinically in home health for more than 14 years, and has additional clinical experience in long-term care and transitional care settings. Dr. Kruse is passionate about aging in place and home safety, along with cognition, memory, and maintaining activities of interest through the lifespan. Her research interests include the role of Occupational Therapy in reducing hospitalizations in the home health setting. She is also passionate about community accessibility which can limit a person’s ability to participate in activities of interest.
Email: [email protected]
Phuong (Sophie) Le, PharmD, CPPS, PACS
Dr. Le is a healthcare entrepreneur who founded a startup connecting patients to pharmacists and primary care physicians. She also serves as a preceptor at the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic, collaborating with healthcare professionals and trainees to deliver patient-centered, safe, effective, and efficient care. Driven by her passion for improving healthcare access and quality, she is dedicated to bridging the gap between patients and health care practitioners while mentoring the next generation of health professionals.
Email: [email protected]
Rebecca Lulai, M.A. CCC-SLP
Rebecca is the Director of Clinical Programs in Speech-Language Pathology in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She worked in a variety of clinical practice settings before focusing her work on clinical supervision and education. She is excited to promote interprofessional education and practice for a diverse group of health science learners.
Email: [email protected]
Scott Miller, OTD, MS, OTR/L
Scott serves as an Assistant Professor in OTD Program as well as the Assistant Program Director on Rochester Campus. He has been an Occupational Therapist since the early 1980's, with degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Mount Mary University in Wisconsin. His most recent clinical practice experience was at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He has been working in academia for approximately 10 years with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His practice skills include adult and older adult physical rehabilitation. His academic teaching skills include OT Foundations, Professional Development, OT Systems of Practice, adult fieldwork experiences, and other practice courses. He is very involved with Interprofessional education throughout my activities at UWM.
Email: [email protected]
Curtis Orchard, PharmD
Dr. Orchard has been working in the community pharmacy setting since 2002. He received his PharmD from Drake University in 2012. His current role is Healthcare Supervisor for Walgreens in Southern Minnesota, where he oversees quality, safety, and patient outcomes.
Email: [email protected]
Amy Sapola, PharmD, FAIHM, IFMCP
Dr. Sapola is a Clinical Pharmacist, Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner (IFMCP), and Certified Wellness Coach with a BS in Nutrition. She has also completed a fellowship with honors in Integrative Medicine from the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM). As a mother of two young children, avid gardener, passionate cook and long time yogi (RYT-200), Amy has an integrative approach to health and wellness both personally and professionally. Dr. Sapola is the Director of Farmacy at The Chef’s Garden in Huron, Ohio. Farmacy at the Chef’s Garden is about bridging the gap between farming and healthcare. Amy’s goal is for the farmer to become part of the health and wellness team. In her work at the Chef’s Garden, she helps guide consumers toward a more mindful relationship with food by connecting the benefits of healthy soil, to healthy plants, and ultimately, to healthy people.
Email: [email protected]
Ritcha Saxena, MBBS MD FCAP
Dr. Saxena is an accomplished academic pathologist with over twenty-five years of experience, specializing in Hematopathology and Dermatopathology. She is dedicated to advancing medical education, particularly through interprofessional collaboration. Recently honored with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), Dr. Saxena is celebrated for her leadership in promoting diversity awareness and creating inclusive environments within medical education. Her innovative teaching methods integrate pathology across healthcare fields, aiming to enhance teamwork, communication, and patient care outcomes.
Email: [email protected]
Tamara Statz, MA, LMFT, FT
Tamara is passionate about creatively collaborating to maintain and improve the lives of older adults and their families. As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, Tamara works with individuals and families who are experiencing grief and loss, chronic and terminal illness, aging, dementia, and caregiving. She is a Fellow in Thanatology with expertise in death, dying, and bereavement. Tamara believes everyone benefits when the systems we live within work together to create environments and experiences where older adults and their families can thrive.
Email: [email protected]
Lindy Yokanovich, JD
Lindy is the founder and executive director of Cancer Legal Care, a non-profit organization providing free legal care to Minnesotans affected by cancer who also face any number of legal issues surrounding employment, insurance coverage, disability, housing, and estate planning as a result of their diagnosis and treatment. Compelled to bring Cancer Legal Care to life after witnessing first-hand the many legal questions and difficulties her own loved ones faced after being diagnosed with cancer, Lindy counts her work with Cancer Legal Care as the most profound and gratifying of her legal career.
Email: [email protected]
Stephanie Delkoski, DNP, APRN, WHNP-BC
Dr. Stephanie Delkoski is a women's health nurse practitioner and Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. She holds a faculty practice at an interprofessional, academic women's health clinic where she provides gynecologic, primary, and prenatal care to women across the lifespan. She has a special interest in preventive healthcare, complex gynecology, and menopause.
Email: [email protected]
Keri Hager, PharmD, BCACP
Dr. Hager's teaching spans the first year to the fourth year of the professional PharmD curriculum, and she has contributed to the 1Health IPE curriculum for over a decade. Her practice, teaching, service, and research focuses on developing an interprofessional collaboration-ready primary care workforce to improve health of the community. She currently provides comprehensive medication management and education at the Center for Alcohol & Drug Treatment and serves as the College of Pharmacy's Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs.
Email: [email protected]
Tyler Haynes, MHA
Tyler is a director of healthcare economics at UnitedHealthcare's Medicare and Retirement line of business. He has a Master's Degree in Healthcare Administration from Saint Louis University. He has worked in operational management positions in many different arenas, including primary physician practices and hospital acute care settings. In his current position, Tyler is responsible for understanding medical cost trends, analyzing and assessing their contribution to payors and stakeholders, and ensuring that patients receive the right level of care with the highest-quality outcomes.
Email: [email protected]
Joseph Merighi, PhD, MSW, LISW
Dr. Merighi is an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the School of Social Work. His research focuses on the professional roles and contributions of social work practitioners in health care settings, with a particular emphasis on nephrology social workers in dialysis clinics. He is very interested in examining how social workers can collaborate with other health professionals to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of clients.
Email: [email protected]
Cherie O'Neill, EdD, FACSM, NBC-HWC, EP-C, PAPHS
Dr. O'Neill is also the Director, Integrative Health & Wellbeing Health Coaching Programs, at the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota. The M.A. Program in Integrative Health & Wellbeing Coaching and Certificate in Health Coaching are both approved, accredited programs by the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and her research focus includes the efficacy of health coaching, health coaching and pain, and health coaching and exercise in healthcare.
Email: [email protected]
Anna Pendleton, MA
Anna is the Program Manager for Global Education for the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility. Anna manages the Center's education portfolio, including including curriculum development and student advising for credit-bearing courses, and developing online education materials, video and multimedia resources, instructional design, and international trainings for the Center’s education and capacity building initiatives. Anna received her master's in Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development.
Email: [email protected]
Andrew Ritter, OD, FAAO
Dr. Ritter is originally from Hastings, MN and graduated with honors from the Illinois College of Optometry before completing a residency in Primary Care and Ocular Disease. He currently splits his time equally between the adult and pediatric clinics. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Katie, and children, Milo (5 years), Hazel (2.5 years), and Wilbur (3-legged coonhound).
Email: [email protected]
Johannah Scheurer, MD
Dr. Scheurer (she/her) is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics. Her clinical practice is in neonatology, for which she is the fellowship program director. Tying together her interests in caring for the most complex and ill patients and education, she has led interprofessional teams to develop, implement, and conduction pediatric end of life care skills, "PECS," workshops for interprofessional health sciences trainees.
Email: [email protected]
Joe Sepe, PhD
Dr. Sepe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Director of the MS in Physiology program. His research background is in cardiovascular physiology, including a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, and previously held a faculty position at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Along the way he has taught in several health professional programs and is passionate about physiology in medical education.
Email: [email protected]
Camille Sterner Sampers, EdD, MA, OTR/L
Dr. Camille Sterner Sampers is currently an Assistant Professor of the Occupational Therapy (OT) Program at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and Rochester. Her overarching research objective is to improve occupational therapy educational experiences so that our University of Minnesota Occupational Therapy Doctorate students are fully prepared for their transition as entry-level occupational therapists. Her current University of Minnesota research seeks to understand the complex learning factors that lead to a successful clinical occupational therapy program and experiential learning. Dr. Sterner Sampers has extensive clinical practice in schools, pediatric outpatient clinics, older adult communities, acute/transitional care, and assistive technology.
Email: [email protected]
Timothy Usset, MDiv, MPH; ACPE Certified Educator, Board Certified Chaplain, LMFT
Timothy J. Usset is a Board Certified Chaplain, ACPE Certified Educator, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist/Board Approved Supervisor in Minnesota. Throughout his career, he has focused on moral injury and spiritually-integrated care intervention development and dissemination. He currently serves as a Research Health Scientist at the VA Maine Health Care System, a Researcher in the Minnesota Evidence-based Practice Center, and the Command Chaplain for United States Army Reserve Legal Command. Tim's honors and awards include being a Transforming Chaplaincy Fellow, and a Pat Tillman Military Scholar.
Email: [email protected]
Ryne Wilson, DNP, RN, OCN
Dr. Wilson is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. He is a nationally recognized leader in cancer nursing with extensive experience in case management, interprofessional healthcare leadership, and health policy. Dr. Wilson has published in national and international peer-reviewed journals focused on clinical and professional issues in cancer nursing and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oncology Nursing Society which represents over 100,000 oncology nurses across the United States.
Email: [email protected]