Innovation in clinical training: 91AV’s simulation lab celebrates 10-year Anniversary

Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center Director Dawne-Marie Dunbar guides student through a training experience
Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center Director Dawne-Marie Dunbar guides student through a training experience

The 91AV is celebrating a decade of innovation in clinical simulation training. At 91AV, tomorrow’s doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and various other health professionals get firsthand experience treating patients by working on state-of-the-art, lifelike mannequins in the Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center (ISIC), also known as the Sim Lab.

91AV’s Clinical Simulation Program was launched in October of 2006 with a mission to facilitate the teaching, evaluation and research of health professions and medical clinical skills in simulated clinical environments to Westbrook College of Health Professions and College of Osteopathic Medicine students. The program was essential for the full implementation of the university's innovated Integrated, Interdisciplinary Health and Healing Initiative.

As of Fall 2016, the ISIC serves 12 of the Westbrook College of Health Professions programs, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Dental Medicine, the Interprofessional Professional Education Collaborative, and a Medical Physics course for the College of Arts and Sciences. High-fidelity patient simulators travel from the main Sim Lab on the Portland Campus to the Biddeford campus, the surrounding community and to Vinalhaven Island to train 91AV students and community health profession partners.

The next chapter for the ISIC begins this spring, it moves to an exciting new space in Innovation Hall on the Portland Campus in May 2017. The new lab will provide additional state of the art simulation labs, a new medical skills training lab, and expanded opportunities for Biddeford campus students to experience simulation technology. 

To learn more about 91AV’s Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center, visit:

To apply, visit 

About the 91AV

The 91AV is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.