Department of Pediatrics Summer Internship

The focus of our research is chronic kidney disease in children. Specifically, we are interested in understanding iron metabolism alterations in children with chronic kidney disease and developing strategies to utilize this knowledge therapeutically and ultimately to improve outcomes in children with kidney diseases. In our work we use animal models, cell culture models, patient samples and datasets, as well as conduct clinical studies, including clinical trials. We primarily welcome applicants who are interested in basic science nephrology research, although the opportunities for translational and clinical research also exist.

Project Leader: Oleh Akchurin, MD, PhD
Division: Nephrology
Duration: 10 weeks
Workplace: Fully On-Site 

Each year >150,000 infants are newly infected with HIV, of which >50% occur during breastfeeding. This high rate of HIV infection via breastfeeding is particularly challenging for infants of low- and middle-income countries, where breast milk is a standard feeding practice to improve infant's health and reduce their mortality rates. While antiretroviral therapy (ART) is very effective in suppressing HIV replication, this therapeutic regimen cannot prevent viral transmission from mothers who are acutely infected during the breastfeeding period. Consequently, infants who are infected in their early-life are forced to rely on daily ART for the rest of their lives, resulting in development of drug-associated long-term metabolic consequences. Hence, to eradicate pediatric HIV infections during breastfeeding, novel and safe intervention strategies beyond maternal ART will be necessary. Gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome has been linked to many disease states including HIV disease progression. However, the impact of infant GI microbiome on HIV acquisition risk during breastfeeding has never been studied before. By leveraging archived samples from an infant non-human primate oral viral acquisition study, we for the first time, demonstrated the protective efficacy of infant gut microbiota against HIV acquisition during breastfeeding.

This project will lead to the detailed characterization of the mechanistic interactions of infant gut microbiome with HIV replication, thereby leading to future non-human primate intervention studies to establish whether manipulation of the gut microbiome during infancy reduce the risk of oral HIV acquisition. Engineering the gut microbiome of infants to enhance colonization of protective gut microbiota will be an extremely safe strategy to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition during the first two years of life, when a child is breastfeeding. 

Project Leader: Ria Goswami, PhD
Division: Infectious Diseases
Duration: 10 weeks
Workplace: Fully On-Site 

Academic Research: A Crash Course will allow volunteers to see a bit of everything that goes into Pediatric Vaccine design in an academic setting. This 6 week program will include shadowing within the lab as researchers complete assays and obtain data, data analysis and communication to collaborators, and a look into the administration responsibilities that keep it all together. Volunteers will be able to get hands on experience with one of our specialty binding assays, ELISA, as well as a small writing project.

Project Leader: Genevieve Fouda, MD, PhD
Division: Infectious Diseases
Duration: 6 weeks
Workplace: Fully On-Site 

Dr. Grinspan’s lab conducts clinical research to improve care for children with epilepsy.  Projects may include studies in comparative effectiveness, surveillance and epidemiology, quality improvement, health services research, or population health. The lab also works closely with advocacy groups for rare diseases on projects related to clinical trial readiness, such as outcome measure development and selection, disease concept models, and pilot clinical trials. Dr. Grinspan works closely with students to design and execute projects aligned with their interests and passions.

 
Project Leader: Zachary Grinspan MD MS
Division: Child Neurology
Duration: 10 Weeks
Workplace: Hybrid

Dr. Lyden's laboratory studies the process of cancer metastasis and how factors secreted by tumor cells, specifically extracellular vesicles, contribute to cancer spread and may be used for early cancer diagnostics and to follow responses to treatment. Students will earn how to isolate and characterize extracellular vesicles from tumor cells, and assess their effects on recipient cell function. Students will master cell culture, molecular biology, confocal and high resolution microscopy as well as data analysis of "omics" datasets.

Project Leader: David Lyden, MD, PhD
Division: Hematology/Oncology
Duration: 10 weeks
Workplace: Fully On-Site 

The Compass Program is a multidisciplinary program for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth that provides gender-affirming care in a safe and welcoming environment. We are seeking an intern to develop patient education materials and compile community resources for TGD youth and their families. Additional activities would include researching LGBTQ competency curriculums for trainees and assistance with the development of a clinical database. There will be opportunities to shadow clinicians in our program and participate in community and advocacy efforts to support the TGD community. 

Project Leader: Jane Chang, MD
Division: General Pediatrics
Duration: 6 weeks
Workplace: Hybrid

Health for Life is a family-centered lifestyle intervention program for overweight children and adolescents. The multidisciplinary team works with patients and their caregivers to provide individualized nutrition and physical activity goals. We are seeking an intern to volunteer with our Fitness Coordinator (FC) this summer. Opportunities would include compiling physical fitness resources (both in-person and on-line) appropriate for our patient population, developing patient education materials around staying physically active, helping the FC with age-appropriate fitness assessments and group activities, and participating in outdoor summer programming opportunities for our youth. 

There will also be opportunities to shadow physicians in our program, work on literature review projects related to childhood obesity, and participate/learn from ongoing research projects. 

Project Leader: Jane Chang, MD
Division: General Pediatrics
Duration: 6 weeks
Workplace: Hybrid

This internship offers an immersive experience into basic methodology used to improve Quality of Care provided to pediatric patients in both, inpatient and outpatient setting. Interns will have an opportunity to join an existing QI project, design intervention/s and test their intervention via 1-2 Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. They will also have a chance to learn the basic principles of patient safety and observe safety event evaluations.

Project Leader: S. Nena Osorio, MD
Division: General Pediatrics
Duration: 6 weeks
Workplace: Hybrid

This internship opportunity allows a college/graduate student to familiarize him/herself with the quadripartite mission: clinical, education, research, and mentoring in the academic health system with the day-to-day operations in one of the largest Departments in a top-ranked medical school. The intern will assist with a wide range of duties, including analyzing data, models preparing financial reports, data entry, and collaborating with the Chief Administrative Officer and other administrative staff on program development. In addition, there will be opportunities to shadow clinical operations, learn about access and practice efficiency. A background in finance, health administration, economics, or accounting is preferred. Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required.

Project Leader: Anita Mesi, MBA
Department: Pediatrics
Duration: 6 weeks
Workplace: Hybrid