What’s next?
For the end of this year, Paul and Discova are planning an even bigger, better trip than the previous record. “As each trip comes along, I level up. I change the approach quite a bit. Each year has a different theme, and I try to make it more sustainable. Because I’m learning along the way, too.”
This time around, Paul has planned a collaborative trip using the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Model, during which students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. They will do so by integrating the model with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. He is planning the trip together with Columbia University School of Public Health, one university in the Philippines, as well as two universities from Japan. The ambitious itinerary will involve one week in Japan, one week in the Philippines, and one week in Vietnam.
One of the major goals of this trip is to have faculties and students from Japan and the Philippines join his students in Vietnam, and together interact and build relationships with students and faculties from the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities. He hopes that this IPE approach will encourage greater engagement between his students and local communities in Vietnam, too. Discova is working with Paul to make the long-term effects of his students’ work more visible and sustainable in global society.
