Intern Spotlight: Grace L. Edwards, Jessica Girard, Lyric Harris, and Antara Saha

I am an incoming second-year student at the University of Pennsylvania. I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health & societies, minoring in journalistic writing, and have the intention to attend medical school. Based on my previous encounters with educational and health inequities, I hope to improve healthcare services through the use of medical journalism, patient narratives, and participatory medical research. In addition, I hope to educate communities of color on health practices through journalistic writing, medical research, and the practice of medicine.

What attracted me to the SUMR program was the wealth of opportunity to develop my research skills in projects that were meaningful and personal to me and within a safe space of like-minded scholars who looked like me. I chose to match with my mentors, Dr. Zachary Meisel and Dr. Jaya Aysola, because of their pursuit of projects that examined equity in healthcare spaces, either in dissemination and translation of health matters or in academia– I am passionate about both of these areas.

Professionally, I see this experience as part of the foundation that will enable me to pursue a personalized career path that includes both medical service and health services research. As a result, I will pursue medical school and subsequent master’s programs that will aid in my knowledge in the areas of public health and health policy research. Ultimately, I want to serve my community and improve healthcare access and education.

I was born and raised in South Florida and graduated this past May from the University of Florida (UF). I knew I wanted to pursue neuroscience during my junior year of high school when I was taking advanced placement courses in chemistry and psychology. At UF, I realized I was also very interested in the criminal justice field and spent a year interning at the Office of the Public Defender in Gainesville. That experience solidified my passion for advocating for criminally-involved individuals with psychiatric disorders.

While studying at the UF, I took a class called, “Neurobiology of Substance Abuse,” which I loved. The NIDA internship was the perfect opportunity to combine my academic interest in drug addiction research with my passion for advocacy. The ineffective policy imposed on the vulnerable clients at the public defender’s office was extremely frustrating to witness and left me questioning how long-term treatment could be effectively delivered to these clients. I chose to match with Dr. Sean Murphy because I knew an understanding of health policy and economics was crucial to actualizing my end goal of developing treatments for criminally-involved individuals with psychiatric disorders.

My overall career goal is to become a forensic psychiatrist, so I am currently working on gaining experience in research and patient care settings to build my resume and make sure medical school is the right step for me. I had no research experience prior to this internship, so I was not certain how much I would enjoy working in a lab. Thankfully, I loved learning about the academic research process over the last few weeks, so I am looking for open research assistant positions back in Gainesville, FL, and plan on applying to the NIH Post-Baccalaureate program this fall.

I am a rising senior at Georgetown University. I hope to become a family nurse practitioner and work primarily with homeless individuals and families. Outside of academics, I run track at Georgetown University and enjoy tutoring youth within D.C.’s public school system. I also enjoy reading comic books (Marvel not DC) and walking my dog, Janet Jackson.

I wanted to gain more experience in research surrounding substance use and addiction medicine. One of my main goals has been to practice medicine within groups that I see myself and my community reflected in. One group that I have a personal connection with is individuals who are homeless. After shadowing at clinics within the community I grew up in, I realized that it is nearly impossible to work with homeless individuals at a clinical level without knowledge on issues of substance use. I matched with Dr. Bruce Schackman so I can learn more about issues surrounding effective care for those who use substances.

This internship has taught me a lot about how providing care for individuals who use substances takes a multifaceted approach and requires careful consideration of factors that affect an individual and how they engage with treatment. The work I have done so far also trained me to look at barriers to care through a lens that examines the structural factors and the challenges they pose to individuals and groups receiving care. I find these experiences helpful in guiding how I approach becoming a family nurse practitioner and finding the right treatment for patients.

I am a rising senior at Stony Brook University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in psychology with biology and chemistry concentrations. I am also a research assistant for the Developmental Stress and Prevention Lab under Dr. Kristin Bernard at Stony Brook. This summer, I am working with Dr. Angélica Meinhofer at Weill Cornell Medicine as part of The National Institute on Drug Abuse Summer Research Internship Program. I enjoy traveling and getting away for weekends, watching police-procedural and thriller movies, and shopping. My long-term ambition is to achieve a PhD in developmental psychopathology and work with children and families.

I was drawn to Dr. Meinhofer’s dedication to working with underrepresented populations, as I knew that her background in economics and health care would provide me a different perspective than my current studies at Stony Brook University. I also liked that Dr. Meinhofer’s experience with secondary data analysis was something unfamiliar to me; primary data collection is more popular in a standard clinical setting in psychology. I expected her involvement in various ongoing projects would also expand my skills and help me discipline my work ethic to align more efficiently with a faster-paced work environment.

I am very grateful to have experienced a different side of academia so early on in my professional career. As I work through this internship, I have come to realize my interest in conducting research on a national level and making an impact on health care policy. Personally, I am very glad I was paired with Dr. Meinhofer who is so dedicated to her work. After being exposed to various facets of the work we do, I have a better understanding of how certain fields like clinical psychology and health care policy overlap and differ.