The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education is pleased to announce the appointment of Christine Arenson, MD, as co-director of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education beginning July 15, 2020. Arenson will join Barbara Brandt, PhD, the National Center’s founding director, in strengthening the National Center’s commitment to collaborative practice and interprofessional clinical learning through leadership and expertise during a pivotal time. Dr. Arenson will lead the future strategic direction of the center while Dr. Brandt focuses on writing, course development, consulting, and further developing the interprofessional continuing education program.

As a family physician and geriatrician, Dr. Arenson comes to the National Center with extensive collaborative practice experience and a demonstrated commitment to interprofessional education. She served as the Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 2013 to 2020, implementing a new Advanced Primary Care Model across the Jefferson primary care network, now including over 100 practices. Dr. Arenson has served as principal investigator on eight HRSA grants focused on aspects of practice transformation and interprofessional collaborative practice.

Dr. Arenson was the founding Co-Director of the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, serving in that role from 2007-2016. She has provided leadership in numerous roles to the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative which is committed to advancing scholarship in the field and has been a member of the National Center’s Knowledge Generation Advisory Committee, advising on the design and implementation of the National Center IPE Core Data Set.

Dr. Arenson graduated from the University of Delaware in 1986 and Jefferson Medical College in 1990. She completed family medicine residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, followed by a fellowship in geriatric medicine. She has been actively engaged in primary care transformation to meet the Quadruple Aim: Improve the Experience of Care, Improve Health Outcomes, Reduce Costs and Restore Joy in Practice.

Please join us in welcoming Chris in her new position as co-director of the National Center.