Applied Experience/Internship 2024-2025
Briefly describe what you did for your Applied Experience and any highlights.
The Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) is an organization with wide-ranging responsibilities, coalescing to improve health in Baltimore City. Over the past semesters, interning in the administrative office at BCHD, I’ve supported the great work being done through the Baltimore City Local Health Improvement Coalition, Community Health Assessment, Diabetes Prevention Program, COVID-19 mini-grants program, and more. I’ve also broadly assisted the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, under Dr. Tamara Green. In October 2024, I presented a poster on BCHD mini-grants subcontracting at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting & Expo. What began as an applied experience internship developed into a continued opportunity to support the Health Department. As my skillset improved, from troubleshooting communicatory flows in Power Automate to becoming increasingly adept at using spreadsheets, I was able to take on greater workloads. With my ability to work more efficiently, I was also trusted to take on greater responsibilities, contributing to long-term projects with the ongoing support of an incredible mentor, Michelle Peralta.
How has your experience informed your understanding of public health?
My experience at BCHD allowed me to understand the public health perspective that is practice-oriented, emphasizing the importance of implementation. Toolkits for public health informed by research or best practices supported by evidence are as useful as their ability to be translated into practice—regardless of whether that happens years after publication or soon after their discovery. My experience at BCHD taught me how effective programs and interventions could be developed and managed. I was exposed to a variety of strategies to reach prioritized communities. Critically, I learned the importance of robust and accountable public-private partnerships in any given public health initiative. I realized that through precise planning and comprehensive reflection, data and theory for public health practice can come to be just as rigorous as those for academia.
How does this experience align with your future goals?
As a pre-medical student, my experience at BCHD gave me an invaluable perspective on the enhancement of health at a population scale. In the future, I hope to pursue a career not solely engaging the practice of medicine but also its intersection with public health on a population level. Working at the BCHD allowed me to see and reaffirmed my interest in how structural and operational decisions—such as grant disbursement strategy or clinic data systems—have real, measurable impacts on health equity. Whether through clinical practice, research, or health systems innovation, I want to continue building tools and strategies that empower community health, bolster resilience, and make systems more effective.
How do you think your time at JHU prepared you for this work?
My coursework at JHU played an essential part in both shaping my understanding around the work I conduct at BCHD as well as introducing me to a baseline of professionalism in deliverable products. From courses that improved my technical writing to those that strengthened my analytical mindset, JHU set the foundations for how I was able to contribute to BCHD. Even in the most recent semester with a course like Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health, I was able to consider and compare various successful programs with those I have been involved with at BCHD for an insightful view on community health initiatives generally. Through courses like Fundamentals of Health Policy and Management, I learned the context of the US healthcare system, allowing me to better understand what underlies the work at BCHD, preparing me for many of the tasks I would be involved with.
*Disclaimer: The responses provided here are my own and do not reflect the positions or opinions of the Baltimore City Health Department.