After a summer internship at DPH in 2012, Jamir Ford started a part-time position in acute disease epidemiology in December.

Jamir Ford was working on his master's in public health degree at Mercer University, and he was eager to find some real-world experience in the field. He said he thought the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) was the ideal place for him to get it.

 

"I had heard a lot about DPH, and I wanted to get my feet wet dealing with public health at the state level," Ford said."At the same time, I knew that once you got into the department, there was a lot of opportunity for advancement as well."

 

Interested in epidemiology, Ford began an internship in the HIV surveillance unit in the summer of 2012. Before long, his opportunity for advancement arrived. When a part-time position in acute disease epidemiology opened, Ford applied, was hired and started the job in December. He said the work with data and surveillance he did as an intern gave him the skills he needed for the job.

 

"The one-on-one mentoring I received as an intern definitely prepared me to deal with what I'm doing right now," he said.

 

Ford and another intern, Sasha Smith, are the first to make the transition from internship to staff position since DPH launched its official intern program in 2012. The program is less than a year old, but it has already been successful in transforming interns into public health professionals.

 

Many DPH departments have hosted interns in the past, but 2012 was the first year that DPH created an official intern program, building formal partnerships with colleges and universities with strong health programs and high-caliber students.

 

L'laina Rash, head of the intern program, said both DPH and the universities benefit from those partnerships.

 

"Our partnerships with the schools is a win-win situation," she said. "The students are getting the knowledge and experience to make themselves more attractive to employers, and DPH can train and work with some very high-quality students."

 

The program began when Emory University and the University of Georgia, both designated as Public Health Training Centers by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reached out to DPH seeking opportunities for their students to get some hands-on experience in public health.

 

"That was a natural fit for us because we're looking to train the future public health workforce," Rash said.

 

DPH placed 11 interns from the schools throughout DPH and health districts across the state for the summer of 2012. In the fall, the DPH intern program placed 15 more interns, and the latest round of spring interns will start working by the end of January. Rash said the intern program is now expanding its reach to students at other schools, including Mercer University, Georgia State University, Fort Valley State, Walden University and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

 

Interns can be a great help to DPH, applying their education and skills to help departments with their workloads. And when staff positions become available, many departments may find that their interns make prime candidates for more permanent positions.

 

Rebecca Meyer, DPH epidemiologist, supervised Smith during her internship and said she valued her dedication and positive attitude, particularly when the department was dealing with high counts of foodborne illness during the summer months.

 

"We were just as fortunate to have had her as an intern as she was in gaining valuable real-world training that lead to employment," Meyer said.

 

When a part-time staff position came open in the division, Meyer said she was excited that Smith earned the spot, making her a more permanent part of the team.

 

"We had already developed a great professional relationship," she said. Hiring interns like Smith as part- or full-time staff members helps because "they are already up to speed on projects and trained using skills essential to their job. They contribute to the team immediately rather than after the typical training grace period."

 

Rash said the fact that departments are deciding to hire their former interns fulfills a basic tenet of DPH's intern program.

 

"The goal is to have a confident public health workforce," she said.

 

Departments interested in hiring interns can contact L'laina Rash at  ltrash@dhr.state.ga.us.

 

-Story by Carrie Gann, DPH Communications