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Office of Public Health Practice

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Public Health Practice Internships

The Office of Public Health Practice partners with organizations and agencies to provide training to the future public health workforce. Internships provide public health graduate students with practical public health experiences while providing organizations and agencies an opportunity to assist in training the future public health workforce.

SPH graduate student intern placements benefit the organization/agency and the student through the development and completion of a pre-defined project that assists the organization/agency in addressing an unmet need and assists the student in developing skills related to public health practice.

In furtherance of the mission of the Office of Public Health Practice and to provide "real world" learning experiences for our students, a limited number of paid summer internships are sponsored in governmental and non-governmental public health agencies throughout the state of Michigan. The paid internships are located in community-based organizations, local health departments and in the Michigan Department of Community Health, among other organizations. If you are interested in having a public health graduate student intern work for your agency, please submit a Project Description Form.

If you are a registered UM-SPH student interested in gaining practical experience during the summer, you can submit a Student Interest Application.

Below are examples of the types of organizations and activities our student interns have participated in during past summers.

Organizations

Community-Based Organizations

Governmental Agencies

Activities

  • Developed a communicable disease reporting system with the schools
  • Conducted a community-based survey to determine the emergency response preparedness level of food establishments
  • Assisted in development of standardized protocols for responding to human illness at ports of entry
  • Conducted data collection, data analysis and report writing on a variety of risk behaviors and factors including the smoking behavior of WIC clients
  • HIV Counseling; street outreach services; HIV prevention material development and distribution
  • Developed work groups on environmental impacts on mental health
  • Created a literature review for organochlorines and endometriosis
  • Developed a survey for domestic violence in the Arab community
  • Created a violence prevention lecture series
  • Developed agency comments for an Environmental Impact Statement
  • Conducted a needs assessment on current consumer education materials on immunizations
  • Recruited, trained and supervised Camp Health Aides
  • Facilitated coalition building for a comprehensive assessment of the community nutrition environment
  • Community outreach and organizing about lead poisoning
  • Analyzed results from assessment tools administered to Native communities
Public Health Practice Internships

Lauren Shirey, MPH (Genesee County Health Department) with intern Jessica Hagan, at the schoolwide poster session

"Through my internship at the GCHD I also gained a better understanding of how a health department functions and what an epidemiologist's role is within a local health department."

—Jessica Hagan, Genesee County Health Department

"In general, I learned that I really enjoy how quickly and effectively you can get things done when you work for a small community-based organization with an open mind and a big heart."

—Heidi Durbeck, HBHE student, Migrant Health Promotion, Saline, MI

"I was able to see first hand, why public health is so important and the impact that it can have on a community."

—Un Ju Kim, Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion