Goals

One reason why I chose this internship was because I wanted to figure out if I want to go pre-med under my degree in public health. I have always been passively interested in medicine, and I felt as if this internship could help me determine if I really wanted to pursue an occupation in the medical field or not. In order to figure this out, I will shadow my supervisors during their clinic hours to give me a more in depth scope of what their day to day task require. I will also be able to sit in on board meeting and pitch in on research papers to learn more about what is offered in the medical field. 

• After being involved in my internship, I have been able to work towards my internship goals quite a bit. After reading this goal, I have realized that I do not want to go pre-med under my epidemiology degree. I have realized that I am not interested in the clinical side of health, and only felt as if I wanted to go pre-med due to uncertainty in my own degree. After career searching in the field of public health, I have realized that there are a lot of options that I don't know about already which gives me hope in my uncertainty. From here, I can begin researching different jobs based on things I am interested in and seek out shadowing or other internship opportunities. 

Another reason why I chose this internship is because I wanted to learn more about and partake in clinical research. The field of research has always fascinated me, so to see what kind of research is being done in hospitals is great to learn about. It is also cool to learn about all of the processes involved in clinical research including the planning, approval, implementation, analyzing, and dissemination processes. In order to learn more about this, I will take part in research projects given by my supervisors. I will fully engage in the projects to learn more about every step of the research process so I can get a better understanding of if I want research to be a part of my future career. 

• So far, I have learned and enjoyed a lot about partaking in clinical research. I have taken an active role in the approval process, implementation, and soon to be analyzing part of my clinical research project. The specific project that I have been working on is called Books for Brains (B4B) which has a purpose to gain more knowledge on a family's access to books while developing a program to engage children in reading. I am currently really enjoying the process of clinical research as it relates to this project as it is closely related to public health and public health research. As of right now, I am not sure if I want research to be a sole part of my future career, however; I am enjoying the process of finding out. From here, I will continue to be a part of research processes to see if I want research to be a part of my future career. 

Another reason as to why I chose this internship is because I wanted to learn more about what public health principles are involved in hospital settings. As my major is public health/epidemiology and I do want to work within a hospital one day, to see how these two interact is intriguing to me. To learn more about this, I will continue with the research given to me by my supervisors. I will also ask questions about the two concepts and how they relate to one another if one arises. I am also going to do my own independent research on how the two relate so I can plan for my future career.

• So far, I have been able to make the connection between public health and hospital occupations. The research I am involved in dives deep into social determinants of health and how it can impact medical outcomes. After more career exploration and time within my internship, I am not as adamant as I once was about my future career being within a hospital setting. However, I would still enjoy working within one if I had the opportunity. From here, I can begin researching different jobs based on things I am interested in and seek out shadowing or other internship opportunities. 

My career plans after college are pretty concrete, but still have a lot of variation in their options. After undergraduate school at IUPUI, I plan to go to graduate school to obtain my MPH. I do not know for sure yet as to where I may want to go to graduate school, but I have a few schools in mind and will continue to keep researching for my best option. The type of MPH that I want to get is also still up in the air, but I am currently interested in getting my MPH in epidemiology (just like my undergraduate degree), or clinical transitional sciences. Though these programs sound cool to me, I still have a lot of research to do and may find something else I prefer later on.  I have these goals for myself because I love learning and want to continue learning in a field that I love and that can have a great impact on the general population.

I am pretty confident in my career plans so far. There is so much variation in my goals that not going through with them doesn't feel like an option to me. However, with so much variation, I am currently getting more experience to help me dwindle down my options.  For example, I joined this internship through LHSI to see if I was interested in public health research or public health occupations within hospitals. So far, I do like my experience, but I hope to get more opportunities within my undergraduate degree here at IUPUI so I can truly figure out what I am passionate about. I hope that coming this next summer, I am able to get an internship at the health department to experience public health in a whole different setting. 

As now it is the second semester of LHSI, I am now again reflecting on my career goals to see if they have changed or if I have made any progress on them. As of right now, my career goals have not changed. I am still planning on obtaining my MPH in epidemiology or some other public health related master's program. My original goals had so much variation in them that it was hard to deviate from them in the first place. However, when looking at such big goals, it is smart to break them down into smaller ones like a checklist to remain "on schedule". Currently, this month and by the end of the spring semester I hope to: continue my search for different graduate schools and program options, interview and apply to summer internships in Indianapolis (my goal internship is at the state health department within the IN-SEIT program), and talk with my advisor about possibly taking the GRE due getting close to graduate school applications time. By this time (January) of next year, I hope to have already applied to graduate school and am beginning to prepare for graduation at IUPUI. I hope to have had more internships and career related experiences under my belt at this time next year so I may have more of an understanding of what my future career may be. All of this will take a lot of preparation, time, and organization, but I am excited to have the opportunity to have these types of experiences. 

Looking forward...

Continuing on into the summer and next year at IUPUI, I will be making choices on what I want to be involved with to reach my future career goals. I want to continue to be involved in IUPUI's campus life so I have ample opportunities to grow within myself as a leader and future public health professional. This includes taking on opportunities such as UGSA board member for Fairbanks School of Public Health (FSPH), student ambassador for FSPH, intern within the IDOH IN-SERT program, mentor for FYS students, and much more that comes my way. All of these opportunities would take place within my final year at IUPUI, but the preparation for said opportunities would happen over the summer. The preparation would include things such as getting my finances in line, communicating with my work supervisors about my activity on campus, and organizing for the future seamsters. Over the summer I will also be researching graduate school programs so solidify my decision on where I may want to go. I am leaning towards IUPUI, but looking towards other programs is never a bad idea.

As for my internship, my career goals and plans have changed due to the experiences I have had the chance of having. Before my internship with Dr. Coven, I was leaning heavily towards working within a hospital setting on a public health related topic. This was up for much interpretation as I was unaware of a lot of the opportunities available, but infectious disease control was always an interest of mine. After having experience within a hospital setting, I am not as inclined to limiting my opportunities to hospital walls as I was before. Sure, the opportunity that I have had with Dr. Coven has been great, but I have also been exposed to more opportunities outside of hospital walls that catch my eye just as much as infectious disease control once did. However, I still do plan on obtaining my MPH so my academic "calendar" has not changed. I am very confident in my ability to make career related decisions because I know careers are flexible and any decision that I make does not have to be set and stone. I can go for one career path and 10 years later be doing something completely different. The flexibility that my MPH gives me allows me to breath when it comes to my future career.