Robin Ann Harvan, EdD, EdM, FACE, FIAMSE, is currently a professor of Health Sciences, the director of the Health Sciences program, and co-chair of the Interprofessional Education Task Force at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University on the Boston campus. Harvan has been an academic affiliate with the Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine since 2014. Starting in 2016, Harvan has served as investigator and lead evaluator on the HRSA cooperative agreement with Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental Medicine in partnership with University of Massachusetts Medical School, MCPHS University, and Stony Brook University School of Nursing to develop and operate an interinstitutional collaborative academic unit, the Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health (CIPCOH).
Early in her career, Harvan served as the director of the Masters in Health Professions Education program and the chair of the department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Health-Related Professions from 1985-1995. “These early leadership experiences served to ground and focus my work and my contributions to advancing interprofessional education and the educational mission of academic health centers, health professions education research, healthcare workforce and policy, and team-based collaborative care practice to improve health outcomes, cost, quality and access,” she said.
During the next two decades of her career, Harvan served as the founding director of the Office of Education and executive director of the Area Health Education Centers at the University of Colorado Denver, deputy director for education and training at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) for the National Naval Medical Center/Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and senior advisor of evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Harvan’s interest in the integration of oral health and medicine is deeply rooted in her past. “After high school, I trained and worked as a dental assistant and medical laboratory technician throughout undergraduate and graduate school,” she said. Notably, Harvan’s dissertation in the late 1980’s focused on an interprofessional study evaluating ethical sensitivity comparing dental team members (dental students, dental hygiene and dental assisting students) and non-dental healthcare team members (medical students, respiratory therapy and surgical technology students). “My early experiences working as a dental assistant and medical laboratory scientist instilled and inspired my understanding of the importance and imperative of oral health and medicine integration.”
Organizations like CIPCOH are critical in identifying and evaluating how an integrated and interprofessional educational/training approach to oral health and medicine can eventually impact patient care and outcomes. As lead evaluator for CIPCOH, Harvan consults and contributes to the Center’s overall evaluation efforts as well as specific research projects.
“I am particularly interested in systems theory and systems-based models of evaluation in the design and development of research methods and evaluations tools,” she said. “I am currently working with the CIPCOH team on the Oral Health Education Comparative (OHEC) tool in development to serve as a resource to design and evaluate oral health and primary care education and training programs.” Harvan continued, “I am thrilled to have joined a team of like-minded enthusiasts and experts in the evolving community of practice working in collaboration with the HSDM Initiative and CIPCOH.”
Since the recent HSDM Initiative and CIPCOH co-sponsored summit, Interprofessional Education to Practice, held on June 5, Harvan is even more energized to evolve a growing community of practice that is devoted to interprofessional education and team-based clinical care for oral health and primary care integration advancements.
“Together is better”, she said. “If we can imagine together then we can influence together, and if we co-labor together then we can create a better future where educational enhancements continuously build better bridges to education and clinical practice for continuous improvement of healthcare systems and health outcomes.”