Read about the PHAST trip to the Gulf Coast
in Findings

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.

2013 Internships are posted through SPH Career Connections at https://umichsph-csm.symplicity.com/

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 competitive paid summer internships are sponsored in governmental and non-governmental public health agencies throughout the state of Michigan that meet the requirement of the EPID, and HBHE departments.

Listed below are synopses of past internship placements. 

Corner Health - Ypsilanti, MI
Project Description: The intern will examine the patient risk assessment data analysis; assist with youth leadership council summer program; health service data collection; may be opportunity for program development.

C.S. Mott Children's Hospital - Ann Arbor, MI
Project Description: The Injury Prevention Intern will coordinate "Safety Town" for Ann Arbor, Manchester, Lincoln, Chelsea, and Dexter school districts. Responsibilities would include implementation of motor vehicle safety lesson plan for pre‐K students as well as conducting proper helmet fittings.

Detroit Department of Health & Wellness Promotion - Ann Arbor/Detroit, MI
Project Description: Assist in the design, development and implementation of a campaign to reduce the number of non-urgent calls to 911. Assist in the development of Playworks (http://www.playworks.org/) activities and programs for the city. Assist with training needs assessment for Detroit DHWP workforce.

District Health Department #2 - West Branch, MI
Project Description: Health disparities addressed through Place Matters and the NACCHO’s MAPP process

District Health Department #10 - Ludington , MI
Project Description: Assist with Community Health Assessment. 

Food Gatherers - Ann Arbor, MI (2 internships)
Project Description: The Agency Relations Intern will participate in:Summer Food Service Program; Nutrition Education; Food Distribution Coordination.

Genesee County Community Mental Health - Flint, MI
Project Description: The student intern will involve intervention development, policy and program design, or in helping to lay the ground work for a new community health center.

Genesee County Health Department (SPROUT) - Flint, MI
Project Description: SPROUT – Our Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition –Assist with the development of education materials, presentations at community events, take notes at coalition meetings and assist with workgroup meetings Health Literacy- Assist with community focus groups and other projects as needed Communities Against Diabetes- Attend steering committee meetings and assist with initiative tasks as needed. Clio Healthy Community Initiative-Assist in the development of a cancer research proposal for MICHR Edible Flint-Assist with the evaluation workgroup assignments.

Genesee County Health Department (EPI, EPC) - Flint, MI
Project Description: Emergency Preparedness Intern will assist with public health jurisdictional hazard risk assessment including identifying and quantifying at risk populations (utilizing census and other data sets, GIS mapping, etc.) and collection of community baseline and hazard specific public health data. Assist with other tasks assigned by the GCHD Epidemiologist or Medical Director,

HIV/AIDS Resource Center - Ypsilanti, MI
Project Description: The student intern will provide HIV prevention education to a wide range of communities. The major tasks will include” HIV prevention outreach through mobile unit and community events; HIV educational presentations; Social media campaigns to raise awareness; and funding research and grant writing.

Henry Ford Health System - Detroit, MI
Project Description: The Sew Up the Safety Net intern will support and partner on various objectives of the Detroit Regional Infant Mortality Reduction Task Force, including fund development and program development activities for “Sew Up the Safety Net for Women and Children,” a multi-health system, multi-agency/university collaboration to reduce infant mortality in Detroit using an innovative, community-based approach that includes mentor-navigators for at-risk women, provider education around healthcare equity and the social determinants of health, and social marketing/civic engagement.

Ingham County Health Department - Lansing, MI (2 internships)
Project Description: The student will work as part of a team setting up dialogs, collecting responses and compiling and presenting the results for a community health needs assessment to address unmet needs identified.

Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan - Sault Ste. Marie , MI
Project Description: The primary project for the intern is to participate in data analysis for the Anishnaabek Healing Circle, Access to Recovery Program.

Michigan Department of Community Health, Bureau of Family and Maternal Child Health (PRIME) - Lansing, MI
Project Description: The Practices to Reduce Infant Mortality through Equity (PRIME) Project Intern will: Assist in the development and implementation of a dissemination plan to share information statewide on infant mortality reduction programs in local communities that focus on undoing racism, health equity and health disparities. Other duties will include: Participation in meetings: PRIME steering and workgroup meetings, Perinatal Health Unit, Division of Family & Community Health, and Bureau of Family, Maternal Child Health. Attend & staff other meetings as they are identified. Summarize health equity, health disparities and undoing racism reports/articles for PRIME meetings. Participation in undoing racism, health equity and social justice workshops.

Michigan Department of Community Health, Bureau of Family and Maternal Child Health (PRAMS) - Lansing, MI
Project Description: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a population based surveillance system of the experience and behaviors of mothers and infants around the time of pregnancy The Michigan Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Epidemiology Intern will: Use epidemiologic reasoning and methods to conduct analyses of PRAMS data in support of Survey priorities. Obtain an introduction to the duties and responsibilities of a Maternal Child Health Epidemiologist. Intern Tasks could include development of quarterly newsletter (e.g., background, trends, frequencies by demographic characteristics, and logistic regression for selected newsletter topic) and assistance with creation of annual report (www.michigan.gov/prams). Possibility exists for developing poster for MCH Epidemiology Conference or other venue.

Michigan Department of Community Health, Division of Genomics, Perinatal Health and Chronic Disease Epidemiology (ACBS) - Lansing, MI
Project Description: This intern would use epidemiological reasoning and methods to conduct analysis of Michigan ACBS data in support of program priorities. Tasks could include becoming familiar with the main ACBS indicator variables through examination of ACBS code books, learning the SAS syntax used to calculate the 2005-2009 adult and child ACBS indicators, creating the SAS syntax used to calculate the 2006-2010 adult and child ACBS indicators, and developing the 2006-2010 adult and child ACBS tables. This intern would also obtain an introduction into the duties and responsibilities of a chronic disease epidemiologist.

Michigan Public Health Training Center- Ann Arbor, MI
Project Description: The intern will assist with the training needs assessment’s data collection and analysis, as well as report development. In addition, the intern will identify resources and trainings that address gaps found in the needs assessment.

Migrant Health Promotion - Ypsilanti, MI
Project Description: The student intern will develop a tip sheet for community health centers on how to effectively include outreach workers) in developing, implementing, and evaluating emergency drill practices. Research the impact and health outcomes of public health programs that are currently using text messaging as a health promotion technique. Develop guidelines for different Promotor(a) programs to utilize text messaging services for emergency preparedness and planning. Coordinate or assist with a Promotor(a) program. Develop trainings for outreach staff and others. Support program Evaluation. Participate in grant writing

National Kidney Foundation - Ann Arbor, MI
Project Description: The intern will work in communities to address social determinants of health specific to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Working on local policy issues/changes specific to diabetes, food policies, self-management program, exercise programming, community health worker interventions, school programming addressing healthy lifestyles – all programs are largely in SE Michigan. This could include the following: community interventions, data entry, assisting with reporting.

Packard Health - Ann Arbor, MI
Project Description: The Health Educator Intern will: Develop and coordinate health literacy workshops for community health advocates (part of the Ypsilanti Health Disparities Initiative). Assist with and co‐coordinate the “Packard Peers” patient walking program (June ‐ August). Administer and evaluate a patient satisfaction survey for the Patient Advocacy Program.

University of Michigan Health System, Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools - Ann Arbor, MI
Project Description: The student intern will: Establish connections with other youth-serving organizations who share a common vision and with adolescent health focused researchers at UM. Develop a framework for adolescent involvement in the work of the center. Develop adolescent centered protocols, policies, and standards of care. Develop adolescent materials that are developmentally appropriate, culturally appropriate, and user friendly for health professionals, parents, and teens. Develop a list of referrals and resources for adolescent healthcare and support services. Develop a resource clearinghouse (web resources, clinical guidelines, training opportunities). Disseminate center work to the broader community. Assist with the facilitation of focus groups with community organizations, parents, health providers at UM, researchers at UM, and youth. Develop the "agenda" for the work of the center based on information obtained through the focus groups.

Salem Memorial - Detroit, MI
Project Description: Work with the community about the value of good nutrition for health and to increase opportunities to put this knowledge into practice.  

Washtenaw County Public Health Department (Emergency Preparedness) - Ypsilanti, MI
Project Description: Working with the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, the intern will assess and map Washtenaw County’s vulnerable populations. The intern will conduct literature reviews and assess best practices for identifying and collecting information on vulnerable populations.

Washtenaw County Public Health Department (Epidemiology) - Ypsilanti, MI
Project Description: This is an epidemiology internship and will focus on public health surveillance and data gathering. Potential projects include: Updating local public health indicators. Assisting with a health disparities index. Collating and analyzing data from our STD/HIV clinic. Assisting with designing a Latino Health Survey.

If you have any questions about these or other internship opportunities, please email internshipcoordinator@umich.edu

2011 Summer Interns - taking part in the internship poster session for HBHE, EHS and EPID, October 2011.

(L - R) Andy Bowe, Washtenaw County HD; Bethany Buschmann, UMHS Injury Prevention Program

Katie Clark, Packard Health Clinic;

"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

"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