Interprofessionalism has become a very robust endeavor at most healthcare-related colleges and universities worldwide. In the United States, a report from the Institutes of Medicine in 1972 titled “Educating for the Health Team,” spurred interest in team- based care. Over the years interest has grown in the domains of interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP). For many years undergraduates were used as teaching assistants in undergraduate gross anatomy courses. In some cases, undergraduates were used as teaching assistants in graduate gross anatomy courses. In both of these cases, the undergraduate was a biomedical sciences student and the graduate students were in either occupational therapy or physician assistant programs of study. All of the students were from the same educational institution. Most recently, two graduate occupational therapy students were employed as teaching assistants for a gross anatomy course for doctoral students in physical therapy. The course was taught by faculty from one institution, graduate students from a second institution, and delivered at a third institution. The delivery and face- to-face time of the course was fifteen hours per week for ten weeks. Although interprofessionalism is traditionally a teaching in the classroom concept for application in the world of practice, we have used a “soft v. hard” approach. We have seen undergraduates and graduates in different disciplines understand and respect their individual knowledge base and skill sets. We have seen different graduate disciplines discover the same understanding and respect, including from different educational institutions. And finally, we have recently noted the developing collaboration between student professions and educational institutions. Three institutions now have students collaborating together as one group in an anatomy club, which includes the disciplines of medicine (students and residents), physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, and undergraduate biomedical sciences. None of the students have attended an IPE course for this to occur, and none have received college credit for their efforts to organize. Introduction Practice Exemplified Literature Review Discussion Interprofessional Education: How Unconventional Methodology Can Develop Interprofessionalism in Undergraduate and Graduate Students John P. McNamara, D.C. 1 and Stuart Tousman, Ph.D. 2 1 Associate Professor, Jefferson College of Health Sciences; Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine; and Adjunct Physical Therapy Faculty, Radford University; 2 Professor, Jefferson College of Health Sciences Many reasons exist as to why IPE is necessary. Healthcare professionals need to be better equipped today in order to meet the challenges of a health system that cares for more elderly, sicker people living at home, and advanced technology that changes on a daily basis. All of this is within a ‘national health system’ that is broken functionally and financially. In general, healthcare delivery is changing, and so too must the way healthcare professionals are trained. The goal of IPE is to allow through classroom training a better understanding of the skill sets healthcare colleagues might have to offer one another. This creates an environment where two students in professional training learn about and from one another. It is hoped that this ultimately leads to more and better collaboration, and improved patient health outcomes when in practice. To accomplish the goals of IPE, faculty continually look for ways to enhance student training and practice. Many faculty use traditional lecture and laboratory settings, facilitate activities and events, and hold team- building exercises. Some faculty require shadowing or service learning projects. We demonstrate a case study as an example of an unconventional method of teaching IPE. Effusion Baker, P. G. (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. WHO study group on Interprofessional Education and Collaborative. Blue, A. V., Mitcham, M., Smith, T., Raymond, J., & Greenberg, R. (2010). Changing the future of health professions: embedding interprofessional education within an academic health center. Academic Medicine, 85(8), Lapkin, S., Levett-Jones, T., & Gilligan, C. (2013). A systematic review of the effectiveness of interprofessional education in health professional programs. Nurse education today, 33(2), Peluso, M. J., Hafler, J. P., Sipsma, H., & Cherlin, E. (2014). Global health education programming as a model for inter-institutional collaboration in interprofessional health education. Journal of interprofessional care, (0), 1-3. Reeves, S., Perrier, L., Goldman, J., Freeth, D., & Zwarenstein, M. (2013). Interprofessional education: effects on professional practice and healthcare outcomes (update). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 3. Reeves, S., Tassone, M., Parker, K., Wagner, S. J., & Simmons, B. (2012). Interprofessional education: An overview of key developments in the past three decades. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation, 41(3), The National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education, University of Minnesota The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Thistlethwaite, J. (2012). Interprofessional education: a review of context, learning and the research agenda. Medical Education, 46(1), References Successful students in anatomy were recruited as teaching assistants who then themselves modeled interprofessional behavior. Subsequently, additional institutions were brought together by faculty workload assignments, and additional students were recruited from various disciplines as teaching assistants. The outcome has been student-driven collaboration in educational and social events by students at three institutions, and includes the disciplines of medicine (students and residents), physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, and undergraduate biomedical sciences.