Intern: Nasim Zeighami
Major: Genetics and genomics
Supervisor: Bethlehem Muleta, Public Health Internship and Training Manager

Tell us about your internship. What are your roles and responsibilities?

Nasim: I’ve been working on a project which consolidates the medical records, front desk operations, and referrals and I created a manual for those operations. It’s been rewarding to gain skills, reach out to people and get feedback and understand what each of those roles do in a healthcare practice. I’ll also sometimes shadow the health educators — I got to shadow a physician, which was really cool because I do want to go into medicine.

Ms. Muleta, can you tell us the internship programs available at Mary’s Center?

Ms. Muleta: The internship opportunities made available at (the) Community Health Education Research and training department  (CHETR) at MC aims to permit Public Health graduate and undergraduate students to bring in what they have gained in the classroom setting into a Health Care environment, working to address various public health issues including but not limited to disease prevention, disease management, program assessment, and evaluation, among others.

How has Nasim been at Mary’s Center? What projects has she worked on?

Ms. Muleta: Nasim has been one of our really great interns. She is very open and flexible and came from a strong background. She also has that desire [to work in public health]. She took on what was assigned and is very attentive and very engaged.

Nasim, do you have a project you're working on or do you have a moment on the job that you are particularly proud of?

Nasim: I’ve been working on a project which consolidates the medical records, front desk operations, and referrals and I created a manual for those operations. I got to present my rough draft to the board of operational directors and the CEO who founded Mary’s Center 30 years ago. It was cool to show her my work and show how much of an impact it will have on the operation.

How is this internship related to your career goals and has it informed your future career aspirations?

Nasim: I’ve always wanted to go to medical school, but I've recently become interested in public health. After this experience I definitely want to get my MPH so I’ve been looking into dual MPH programs. Getting to see patients — that’s what I’m doing it for. It reaffirmed my passion for going into medicine.

What is your advice to students seeking out similar internships?

Nasim: Know what your goals are, what skills you already have and what skills you hope to obtain from the internship so when you apply, you know exactly what you’re looking for and you know what the goals of the organization are.