Brittany Lue, a public health studies major, interned at the University of Michigan through a program designed to increase college students' interest in minority health.
By Sarah Mulnick ‘17
Elon University senior Brittany Lue took part last summer in a selective internship program with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on enhancing interest in the profession among undergraduates studying public health.
Lue, a native of Miami, Fla., was one of nearly 200 students from across the country accepted into the CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars program. Scholars are placed at universities across the country, where they work in departments that show the variety of career and academic opportunities in the public health field.
According to the CDC, program participants tackle projects that range from the study of social determinants of health, such as sociocultural factors related to HIV prevention, to public health reporting focused on data and analysis. The program consists of six internship opportunities at four partner institutions, “creating a public health workplace experience to increase student interest in minority health.”
Lue was placed at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and spent part of each week attending lectures. The rest of her time was dedicated to the University of Michigan’s Department of Safety and Security with work that involved setting up emergency protocols for shootings, natural disasters or other events.
Students in the program also spent one week at the CDC’s main headquarters in Atlanta to attend lectures and learn from high-ranking members of the organization. It was an opportunity not only to network in the field but also to learn more about the vastness of the public health field, Lue said.
“The internship really opened my eyes to what sort of careers were available in the field of public health,” she said.
Prior to her internship, Lue had been uncertain as to what opportunities lay beyond graduation in her field. While she intends to go into a career that focuses on mental health, she said that the lectures that she attended went into a greater detail than she had experienced before.
“They were really beneficial,” she said, “They really helped me to focus on what I hope to do.”