This summer I completed an internship at the Ohio Department of Public Health. I worked on a literature search and review about gestational diabetes. This project helped to provide the foundation for published research in the public health field.
This internship experience has taught me that I am a person who loves discovery and learning. I have always enjoyed school and thought that work would feel boring and unstimulating in contrast. On the contrary, I loved using my skills to dive deep into one area of study. Reading research papers and constructing an overview of the literature on gestational diabetes was exciting and allowed me to explore the nuances of the subject in detail. Better even than school, my learning contributes directly and indirectly to work that will affect the health of the public.
This internship has grown my appreciation for the professional world of public health, and especially the research process. Early in my schooling, I had written off research as being too boring or slow-moving for me, since I enjoy experiencing new things. Actually working in research has changed my perspective and taught me that research is at its core a process of discovery and innovation. This has opened me up to a whole new range of possibilities in my educational and professional career.
A key activity that revealed to me a newfound love of research was doing literature searches. While I read paper after paper on gestational diabetes, I found myself wondering more and more with each one. I wondered about the study design, the population, and the measures that were used. This curiosity helped me to get excited about reading each paper and comparing them to each other. It was fun to see how each was different and similar to others, what common threads ran through each and which had novel characteristics.
Another factor was that I was working on an ongoing research project at Nationwide Children’s Hospital at the same time as I was completing this internship. Working with my “boots on the ground” so to speak in research doing data collection gave me a different perspective as I looked at literature. I was able to think critically about things like the methods used to get data and the protocol of the study and really understand everything that went into producing the research I was reading. It was good to see the finished product of research after working on a research study for so long.
Finally, my internship preceptor, Reena, fostered my interest and excitement for research. She encouraged me to ask questions, think about where more research needed to be done, and see the big picture of the work I was doing. She also helped me to connect the research I was reading about to studies that had been recently performed by ODH. This grew my interest in research because I was able to see the whole process of how research worked from the start to finish.
This transformation has opened doors for me in my academics and given me a new set of skills. First, I had always thought research was not for me and that I would never want a career in research. After this experience, I would consider myself open to opportunities to help direct and conduct research. I know now that I would enjoy it and thrive in that setting! In addition, I have new skills relating to research that will help me in my future career whether I work in a research field or not. Understanding how to conduct a literature search and review, as well as skills in reading research papers and understanding them. Overall, this experience taught me a lot about research and myself and I am very grateful for it!
I presented a poster about my internship to my peers and the faculty of the College of Public Health