As we enter our 10th anniversary year, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education is pleased to announce Christine Arenson, MD, has been named director. For the past 18 months, Dr. Arenson has served as co-director of the National Center with Barbara F. Brandt, PhD, the National Center’s founding director.

In her role as director, Dr. Arenson will lead the strategic direction of the center, with a focus on cultivating partnerships to advance initiatives and grow the National Center’s commitment to generating new knowledge to advance the field, including the use of the NexusIPE™ Core Data Set in practice settings, sharing, “I am honored and excited to continue the work of the National Center with new partners as we work together to transform interprofessional practice and education to achieve outcomes that matter most.” Dr. Brandt will continue to focus on scholarly contributions to the field in her role as founding director, including writing, course development, and consulting.

Dr. Arenson will continue to uphold the National Center’s commitment to collaborative practice and interprofessional clinical learning through the Nexus, representing clinical and educational leadership and expertise. As part of the Center’s 10th anniversary, a portfolio of scholarly works will be released including courses, a special issue of the Journal of Interprofessional Care and book, Interprofessional Practice and Education for Healthcare: A Guide for Students and Professionals.

As a family physician and geriatrician, Dr. Arenson has 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 director of the National Center.