Melissa Coward, MD, PharmD
Pediatric Resident Physician
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Melissa Coward is a Pediatric intern at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Coward is a graduate of Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2018 as part of the PharmD/MD program with the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. She graduated with a Distinction in Leadership in Academic Healthcare and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. During her medical school training at RWJMS, she co-founded an interprofessional education-focused virtual elective and founded the school’s medical student chapter of Reach Out and Read.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an important component of healthcare education preparing students to provide well-rounded patient care as part of a collaborative team. Despite the overall satisfaction reported with participation in IPE programs and events, challenges exist due to IPE efforts commonly being faculty-led, in-person, and single-session. The purpose of this study is to describe an approach to the implementation and flexible modification of a pilot virtual, longitudinal, case-based, student-led, faculty-supported IPE program designed to address the challenges encountered by…