PIC Interns Explore Hospital Careers
For decades, Boston’s hospitals—the biggest employment sector in the region—have partnered with the PIC to give BPS students early, hands-on experience of the range of roles and careers in healthcare.
In the Tufts Medical Center Neurology Department, Dr. Joel Oster takes Bridgette Ouyang under his wing.
“We look forward to it every year,” says Dr. Joel Oster, Neurologist, Associate Professor at Tufts Medical Center. “Having been a Boston Public School student myself, I know that the students are well-qualified, conscientious, eager to learn, and they’re a positive influence for us and our patients. It is a mutually beneficial endeavor to do this year after year.” In addition to neurology, Tufts’ 28 interns worked in 21 departments including cardiology, rheumatology, neurosurgery, and interpreter services, among other departments.
Lisa Hy, Program Manager, Community Benefits and Community Health Initiatives at Tufts, agrees that PIC interns add value to the hospital. “Our interns have greatly contributed to the success of our hospital by helping confirm appointments, prepare exam rooms, labs, or escorting patients who needed help. Many of our departments have gone on to hire students part-time or even full-time after the internship concludes.”
Lisa was also a BPS student and a PIC intern. “Having been supported by Boston PIC as a teen,” she says, “I hope that our partnership at Tufts Medical Center will continue to help young people turn their passion into a career.”
In the Tufts Medical Center Vascular Laboratory, Aiden Hu learns from Technical Director Jean Alessi-Chinetti.
Aiden Hu, working as an intern in the Vascular Laboratory, says, “My supervisor has been really helpful and super nice. From my first day, she has shown me around, not only here in the lab but around the hospital when she visits patients in other departments. In the future, I know that I want to go to med school and work as a dermatologist, but I was unsure whether I want to work in a hospital or in an office. This internship has given me great hospital experience.”
At Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain, students have the chance to see how the hospital operates behind the scenes. Faulkner hosted ten interns during summer 2024.
Says Katie Plante, Program Manager, Community Health and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, “Our hope is that our summer interns get an idea of how a hospital works and of all the different departments that there are here. If you’re just coming into a hospital setting for the first time, you think a doctor or a nurse or whatever, but there are also the departments that most people don’t see. Materials, patient transport, food service and environmental services—all of those are incredibly important for the operations of the hospital. My goal is that students get to a first-hand understanding of how a hospital operates.”
Food services is essential to a hospital’s functioning, as interns Zahra Riley-Tuitt and Selena Ferriabough have learned.
Katelyn Francisco, a rising junior at English High, appreciates the perspective that she’s learned from her summer working in patient transport. “We transfer patients. If you’re in the ER and you need to go to x-ray, then we’ll come get you and we’ll bring you to x-ray. The most interesting part of the job is being in different departments, in different parts of the hospital. I’ve never seen dialysis before, but I saw it for the first time this week. I’ve always wanted to work in healthcare, and this is a great way to get my foot in the door.”
Healthcare employers or other companies interested in hosting high school interns can contact Josh Bruno, Director, Employer Engagement, at josh.bruno@bostonpic.org for more information.
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