Maritza Salazar Campo: Making interdisciplinary teamwork happen

We are thrilled to highlight our longtime partner, Maritza Salazar Campo, PhD, MSW, and her invaluable contributions to not only understanding and teaching best practices for interdisciplinary teamwork, but also influencing the creation of a Team Science activity sponsored and packaged by the Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP) for education, training, and dissemination purposes. 

Dr. Salazar Campo is the leader of the CTSI Team Science Program and an esteemed Assistant Professor of Teaching (Organization and Management) at the Paul Merage School of Business where she focuses on identifying factors that drive the effectiveness of high-performance teams and organizations across various industries, ranging from professional services to healthcare. Her research delves into the intricate dynamics of these units, yielding groundbreaking insights that enhance the ability of leaders and teams to work together under challenging circumstances, like job strain, task complexity, and cultural distance.

Maritza first collaborated with the CERP team in 2019 to train on utilizing evidence-based principles of communication to facilitate successful teamwork, team dialogue, and optimal solutions. Her impactful presentation led to an iteratively refined, community-informed, CERP-sponsored Team Science interactive activity that aims to teach the importance of facilitating optimal engagement among multi-disciplinary teams – particularly in the public health field. Team science has been tested among various audiences – community based organizations, undergraduate students, and academic researchers as a few examples – to study the efficacy and versatility of the training materials. It is now a highly sought after activity among high school students interested in allied health careers within the healthcare industry. Most recently, Dr. Salazar Campo gave a dynamic talk on effective and respectful communication at our UC END DISPARITIES Spring Retreat on April 25 at the UCLA Covel Commons.

On June 28, CERP staff (Juan Barron, Michael Coffee, Jessica Jara, Atkia Sadia) presented a CERP-sponsored, community-informed Team Science activity to an amazing group of high school students and recent graduates interested in allied health careers and participating in the 2024 UCLA-Turner Allied Health Internship Program. The CERP team discussed their mission, its alignment with the importance of public health, and principles of communication that help drive effective dialogue among multidisciplinary teams.

Dr. Maritza Salazar Campo's inspirational contributions have earned her recognition through her scholarly publications and numerous teaching, mentorship, and civic awards, including being named by the OC Business Journal as one of the OC 50 shaping the future of healthcare in Orange County. CERP could not be more grateful of the partnership forged with Dr. Salazar Campo and look forward to our Program’s continued development because of her expertise.