Public Health Endowed Internship Fellowship

Zimbabwe Career Connect is a program that enables Zimbabwean students learning abroad to gain work experience in their fields of interest. Through ZCC I served as a health intern at Ecosurgica, shadowing a neurosurgeon and two urologists. I joined them to visit some major hospitals in Harare, Zimbabwe  including The Avenues Clinic, Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare General Hospital and Milton Park Medical Center.

I was fortunate enough to pursue my passion for research this past summer working as a research assistant for SPARK Research For Social Change- a nonprofit organization that works together to promote equity and social justice with a specific focus and passion to end violence in all forms.  

The precarious living conditions faced by various communities around the world lead to numerous health challenges, particularly impacting the most vulnerable groups. With a spirit full of zeal to contribute to positive change and strive for a better future filled with hope for these communities and beyond, I decided to return to my hometown, Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to undertake my internship.

There is a great need for youths in rural Kenya to be informed and educated on topics related to early pregnancy, substance abuse, STI’s, and the importance of education. These issues not only have social and educational implications, but also health impacts. As a result of these issues, increased cases of pre-mature deaths are witnessed among youths in rural areas. This project focuses on a small village; Kaibei in Trans-Nzoia  county, Kenya, a place I was born and raised in. The program focuses on;

As a participant in the CFHI Global Health Education Program, I was immersed in a comprehensive clinical and cultural experience within a global community. My daily routine involved rotating through various clinical and public health sites for approximately 6-8 hours from Monday to Friday. Beyond this formal clinical and public health focus, I also attended lectures and weekly debrief sessions with the local team.

At Lewis County Public Health, I was majorly responsible for reviewing and compiling death, communicable disease, and Early Intervention (children with special needs) data. I was responsible for gathering specific epidemiological data to use for reporting, such as the number of cases occurring per year, percent gender (male/female) distribution, age distribution in years, cause of death distribution, category of death distribution, ICD-10 code distribution, and the township/zipcode via address distribution.

The Heartfelt Dreams Foundation is an organization that provides emotional and financial support to individuals and families who suffer from congenital heart defects.

This summer I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant studying urinary incontinence in active women under a pediatric urologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Urinary incontinence (UI) is estimated to affect about half of adult women but remains highly stigmatized and under-reported in clinical settings.

While exploring my interests in college, I became intrigued by public health and the potential it held as a career path. Curious to learn more, I began actively searching for opportunities in this field, and that's when I stumbled upon an incredible internship opportunity With UNICEF for the summer. 

Taline had the opportunity to intern with Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) from their office in Yerevan, Armenia during the summer of 2023. With this privileged, Taline was able to learn how to be flexible, adjust to new environments, initiate collaboration, and develop her research skills. As well, she learned how instrumental team work is to the success of any project. Taline's research on breast cancer screening in Armenia will be used to guide pilot studies between COAF and the Ministry of Health on breast cancer screening.

This summer my internship was based at the Healing House Psychiatric Clinic, Drug Detoxification and Rehabilitation Centre in Islamabad. During these eight weeks, I got a chance to shadow Dr. Abdul Ghafoor Malik, the co-founder and clinical director of Healing House, and sat through the debriefing and discussion about the most prevalent mental disorders faced by Pakistanis nowadays.

Through working with 4MyCiTy this summer, a sustainable food management non-profit, I received the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge about out current food system and the growing field of sustainable food rescue. The main goal of 4MyCiTy's services is to prevent the environmental impact of food waste on our environment by diverting edible food waste from landfills, while promoting sustainable food management practices. With the diverted or rescued food 4MyCiTy distributes them to food insecure communities, in the greater Baltimore region, through their partner organizations.

This summer my primary responsibility throughout my fellowship was working as a recruitment coordinator for the GoMoms research study. GoMoms is a study focusing on gestational diabetes and understanding blood sugar levels in pregnancy. I spent my time on this study based in the Maternal-Fetal-Medicine department of the Yale New Haven Health facility in New Haven.

This summer, Martina conducted 30-40 weekly hours of research where she collected, quantified, and analyzed the amount of microplastics present in the Grasse River.