Hi Everyone,
This week, we’ll highlight a student organization unique to Ohio State – Inter-Professional Council, or IPC for short. To tell you more about this group, I asked some current PharmD students to share more about their involvement.
When asked, “What is IPC?” third-year PharmD student Lauren Levi explained:
“IPC is an interprofessional student organization consisting of professional students from Pharmacy, Law, Dentistry, Medicine, Vet Med, and Optometry. We consists of Senators from each school that serve on various sub-committees at Ohio State, and we dictate funds to help put on interprofessional events thrown by other student orgs within those colleges and put on interprofessional events ourselves!”
For example, IPC hosts social events for professional students – like the annual Halloween Party – and special events for charity (picture sand volleyball tournaments and casino nights) throughout the year.
The volleyball tournament is TaLeitha Varner’s (third-year PharmD student & IPC Service Chair & Pharmacy Justice) favorite event. “I joined a team at the last minute and do not regret it one bit! Although we didn’t make it very far in the tournament, it was a chance to meet other students, to donate to the designated charity and to just have fun!”
IPC also oversees the “Professional Development Fund” which offers reimbursement for students. For example, its common for PharmD students to travel across the country for different conferences and IPC will offer reimbursement for travel costs associated with these trips.
An organization like IPC is important for many reasons, including networking and professional development. According to TeLeitha, her involvement in IPC has been valuable because “IPC plans many events throughout the year that help balance the many hours we all put forth learning and studying. IPC represents all of the professional schools and is able to serve as a voice within the entire OSU community.”
If you have any questions about IPC, visit their Facebook page or let me know at williams.4020@osu.edu and I can connect you with a current member!