Recently, we learned that our colleague and friend, Malcolm Cox, MD, passed away on November 25, 2022. His seminal work championing interprofessional practice and education transformation and workplace learning at the Veteran’s Administration is well known within the IPE community. Dr. Cox was a highly respected medical educator at both the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Medical School. He served many national leadership roles that helped advance IPE during and after his tenure at the VA.

On a personal note, Dr. Cox was a selfless mentor to both National Center Director Christine Arenson and Founding Director Barbara Brandt. A long-time resident of Philadelphia, Dr. Cox advised Chris and her colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University over the first decade of their IPE work at the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education.

When the National Center launched in 2012, he was instrumental in advancing our work on the Nexus, or aligning practice and education. Notably, he co-chaired two committees that wrote seminal reports: Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation report, Transforming Patient Care: Aligning Interprofessional Education with Clinical Practice Redesign and Institute of Medicine (now the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine) Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education report, Measuring the Impact of Interprofessional Education on Collaborative Practice and Patient Outcomes.

Dr. Cox will be remembered as a valued colleague, a critical thinker, and a mentor to many of us working in IPE. His contributions to our knowledge of implementing interprofessional transformation at the Nexus of practice and education, with a laser focus on measuring outcomes that matter most, are foundational to our shared work together. We are grateful to have known and worked with him, and he will be deeply missed.

Malcolm Cox, M.D., was an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He most recently served for 8 years as the Chief Academic Affiliations Officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw the largest health professions training program in the country and repositioned the VA as a major voice in clinical workforce reform, educational innovation, and organizational transformation. Dr. Cox received his undergraduate education at the University of the Witwatersrand and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. After completing postgraduate training in internal medicine and nephrology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he rose through the ranks to become Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Education. He has also served as Dean for Medical Education at Harvard Medical School; upon leaving the Dean’s Office, he was appointed the Carl W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cox has served on the National Leadership Board of the Veterans Health Administration, the VA National Academic Affiliations Advisory Council (which he currently chairs), the National Board of Medical Examiners, the National Advisory Committee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education of the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Cox is the recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching and in 2014 was recognized by the Association of American Medical Colleges as a nationally and internationally renowned expert in health professions education.