Interprofessional Academic Health Center Leadership Development: The Case of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Healthcare Leadership Academy

AimThe study describes the genesis of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Healthcare Leadership Academy (HLA), highlights the HLA’s outcomes, discloses how the HLA has changed, and delineates future directions for academic health center (AHC) interprofessional leadership training.BackgroundWhile interprofessional training is recognized as an important component of the professional education for health professionals, AHCs have not focused on interprofessional leadership training to prepare future AHC leaders. As professional bureaucracies, AHCs require leadership distributed across different professions; these leaders not only should be technical experts, but also skilled at interprofessional teamwork and collaborative governance.MethodsThe HLA is examined using the case method, which is supplemented with a descriptive analysis of program evaluation data and outcomes.ResultsThe HLA has created a networked community of AHC leaders; the HLA’s interprofessional team projects foster innovative problem solving.ConclusionsInterprofessional leadership training expands individuals’ networks and has multiple organizational benefits.