Child Family Health International is an NGO that connect students with local health professionals and community leaders who are seeking to make a positive difference in global health. University and medical students travel to countries in Latin America and Africa. Interned at Child Family Health International, and worked closely with Nick Penco (Associate Director of Innovation). I helped Nick utilize international health data in order to decide what diseases to focus on targeting in each respective countries’ curriculum. I communicated these changes by changing the website layout and updating program pamphlets for future participants in the global health programs.
As part of my program Boost@BerkeleyHaas, I was required to apply for an internship. This is easier said than done. Most internships I had interest in, I was not eligible for. I was too young, too old, too far, or too late. But right when I thought all hope was lost, I stumbled upon Child Family Health International (CFHI): a little nonprofit organization in San Francisco. As I looked over CFHI’s mission statement on its satisfactory website, I liked what I saw. In pleasant Arial font, CFHI proudly proclaimed that it provided “community-based Global Health Education Programs for students and institutions”. A simple phone interview, a meeting at the workplace, followed by a demonstration of my technological skills, and I had an internship.
Journal Entries
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06/10/2016
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Today was the first day I came to CFHI. I was pretty intimidated, to be honest. I got a tour of the facilities and I felt like I would be at home for the next couple of weeks. Nick Penco was really nice and welcoming, and assured my mom that I would never have to stay late nights at the office.
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06/17/2016
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I actually got to meet my fellow co-worker Sarah Hyrzenewics on the MUNI and we got to talk about our different goals for the company, which was really exciting. Today Nick Penco set me up with an email (intern@cfhi.org) and that gave me access to a lot of data within the company. As it turns out, the company uses a Salesforce account to store their data, which is a megasecure way to do it. I also had to sign the CFHI Participation Agreement. I also finally got to meet Alyson Kathryn Seiler, who is a fellow intern with Sarah. They are more in charge of marketing while I am in charge of management and coding of the website.
06/24/16
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We started an intern journal club. That is: me, Alyson, and Sarah decided to read a weekly PhD thesis and then discuss our ideas. I also worked on matching passports to applicants since there was no computer program designed to do that and so I had to do it on my own. I also reviewed the clinical tasks and responsibilities that all undergraduate participants of every program had to partake in. I cross-referenced various lists to make sure that they aligned with one another.
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07/01/16
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This week I worked on creating a pamphlet for the Urban & Rural Comparative Health program. This program is housed in Quito, Ecuador. I was required to learn more about the country as a result, which was very exciting. For example, Ecuador is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world. It was founded in the 16th century atop the ruins of an Incan city. Today, this modern metropolis boasts a diverse population of about two million people. As the capital and economic hub of the country it attracts migrants from rural areas - mostly indigenous groups, as well as immigrants from neighboring countries.
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07/08/2016
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I helped Nick Penco with navigating over 200 students into their respective programs, which was very harried and rushed.
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07/15/2016
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I helped Nick plan a CFHI Summer Barbecue celebration.
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07/22/2016
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I got to meet Jessica Evert, which I was extremely excited about. She currently teaches at UCSF School of Medicine, which - if I were to pursue a career in medicine - would be my dream medical school choice. That is why I was so keenly interested to hear about her experiences, as she actually got to teach students and was vaguely familiar with the medical school process. We had a quick discussion about my goals as well as her accomplishments. Currently she is in the process of publishing a book about her experiences with public health and actually visiting countries and closely examining their health care structure and the possible flaws that the system encounters.
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07/29/16
I had to organize all the photos from previous trips and making sure that they were all organized by prorgram and date. There was a lot of footage to go through and I actually had to create a code that would make the photos tagged. It wasn't really that hard though.
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08/05/16
Today was the last day of my program and I feel really satisfied with how it went. I feel incredibly satisfied with how my program turned out and I am glad I got to experience a non-profit environment. I believe that my exposure to a non-profit has made me realize that though the system is imperfect, nonprofits are doing great things. I am so grateful that there are people like Nick Penco trying to get their foot in the door and make sure that young undergraduates get exposed to the world of medicine in a totally novel way, by doing clinical work in under resourced countries.
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Closing Report
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Working in a semi-professional environment was incredibly exciting. I deeply enjoyed going to brown bag lunch meetings on Wednesdays, where I was able to learn about exciting new happenings in medicine, as well as being able to discuss abstracts with my supervisors. All my coworkers had not only a passion for medicine, but also cared deeply about people.
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I think that this experience closely ties to my participation in the Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair, where I was awarded first place on my behavioral science projects for the past three years.
Having both of these experiences has helped me realize that I care about medicine and that it has always been my dream.
I questioned whether working at a place like CFHI was what I wanted to do when I grew up. After some thought, I decided that while I don’t necessarily want to work there, my feelings are now more shifted towards public health because of this experience.