Internships with The Medicine & Society Program

Thanks to the generous funding provided by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, the Medicine & Society Program is able to offer up to 20 paid internships per semester. Some of these internships are only offered to students enrolled in the Medicine & Society Minor, but others are ‘open,' meaning that any student enrolled at the University may apply. Although non-minors may apply for the open posts, at the request of our partnering institutions, preference will be given to applicants who have taken at least one course offered through the Medicine & Society Program. All available places will be advertised primarily through the Office of Undergraduate Research, so it is important to sign up on their list-serve, details of which can be found on their website.  

Examples of past internships include:

1. UT Medical School at Houston: Patient screening and data input for study on proactive palliative care in open surgical and medical intensive care units.

2. Texas Children's Hospital: Ethics and clinical practice in pediatric GI medicine (Medicine & Society Minor students only)

3. University of Houston College of Optometry: Various opportunities on campus, in community clinics, and medical mission work. (Medicine & Society Minor students only)

4. Honors College at the University of Houston: Asthma spaces: opportunities for students of any discipline to participate in cross-disciplinary research on causes and representation of asthma.

5. University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work: Study on addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders.

6. University of Houston College of Technology: Numerous opportunities available for work in Community Health Education. (Medicine & Society Minor students only)

7. The Houston Department of Health and Human Services: Students are given opportunities to gain first hand field experience using qualitative health assessments and household surveys to identify community health needs.

For information on internships currently offered please contact medsoc@mail.uh.edu.

The Medicine & Society Program also funds several candidates for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (SURF) and the Provost Undergraduate Research Scholarships (PURS). More information on SURF and PURS can be found through the Office of Undergraduate Research.

If you are interested in any of the above and would like to know more, please make an appointment to meet with Dr. Helen Valier, Coordinator of the Medicine & Society Program (hkvalier@uh.edu).

Internship checklist

• Sign up for the Office of Undergraduate Research list-serve (many opportunities are advertised here beyond Medicine & Society specific interns).

• Ensure that the Medicine & Society coordinator, Dr. Helen Valier, has your up-to-date résumé on file.

• Keep an eye on what's going on with Medicine & Society classes and events, as several internships are associated with those.

• Help us to help you! If you find a good project to work on, either with a faculty member here on campus or in the wider Houston community, discuss it with us so we can consider funding it. This might be particularly relevant to those of your wishing to pursue SURF and PURS projects.

Any comments or questions, please don't hesitate to get into contact with Dr. Helen Valier (hkvalier@uh.edu), 713.743.9021. We look forward to working with you!