Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy / Undergraduate / Interns

Summer internships

GENERAL INFORMATION | HOW TO APPLY | CONTACTS | INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

GENERAL INFORMATION
The Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy has a lively, active Summer Intern Program that draws students from Penn as well as nationally. Summer interns work with a faculty member on a research project or other type of scholarly pursuit. Many have earned article authorships and have presented their work at national conferences. The Summer Internship Program includes special meet and greet lunches, a lecture series on current topics in bioethics by Penn faculty, and a field trip to the Mütter Museum. The Intern Program culminates in a 'Summer Intern Conference': a day-long event attended by interns and faculty advisors in which interns present their work or research. This is an excellent opportunity to practice academic presentation skills in a supportive environment. The Department is a fun and easygoing place, but the faculty take their work very seriously, so please only apply for these positions if you are willing to dedicate yourself to the opportunity.

Schedule: Start/end dates and weekly schedules vary according to the project and faculty member. If you have restrictions, or have a scheduled vacation, be straightforward with your needs. The faculty are understanding and usually willing to be flexible.

Academic Credit: For some positions, academic credit may be available, especially if the student is from Penn. Students from other institutions who desire academic credit should check with their home institutions on how to extend credit from Penn to their schools. If you desire credit, you can ask about this in your application cover letter. Feel free to get in touch if the faculty member is not sure how to arrange academic credit.

Summer Housing: Penn offers a Summer Intern Housing Program for any students who will require living arrangements. Students must apply for housing, and all applications are due by May 12 2012. Housing is available from Sunday, May 20, 2010 through Saturday, August 18, 2012. A minimum stay of four-weeks is required. Applications received after the due date will not be guaranteed summer housing and will be considered only on the basis of availability. For more information, contact Conference Services at confsvcs@pobox.upenn.edu, or visit the Conference Services website.

Alternately, please note that many interns find off-campus housing on their own. Penn maintains a searchable listing of off-campus rentals, as well as other helpful information for living off-campus at the Off-Campus Services website.

Acknowledgement: Many of these projects will offer acknowledgement (a note thanking you for your work in the book or article that results from it), and very occasionally one may offer co-authorship for the particularly enterprising student. Ask the faculty member about these possibilities if they interest you.
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HOW TO APPLY
Internship positions are posted on this site in March. Once they are posted, we ask that you contact the faculty member directly via email to apply.
When contacting a faculty member, be sure to include in your email: 1) That you are writing because you are interested in a summer intern position with him or her; 2) Why you are interested in their particular project; 3) The dates you are available and how many hours a week you can work; 4) Any particular skills you have (computer, Internet, research, other). It is a good idea to also include a cover letter and your cv/resume.

The faculty member may want to interview you. If the faculty member has no positions left, move on to your next choice. All of these projects are by top-notch faculty, and all are fascinating. Even if it is not in the area you are interested in, you may be surprised how much you learn. If you can't get exactly what you want, it is really worth it to try something else even if you think you are not particularly interested in it.

If you completely strike out, and are still interested in working here, don't give up. There are faculty contacting us all the time about new positions. Get in touch with us, and we'll see what we can do.
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CONTACTS
Katherine Buckley, Summer Intern Coordinator
3401 Market Street, Suite 320 Philadelphia, PA 19104
tel: 215-573-9378 | fax: 215-573-3036 | beintern@mail.med.upenn.edu

Nora L. Jones, PhD
Director, Summer Intern Program
Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
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INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Please read all of the opportunities carefully and fully before deciding. They are in alphabetical order by professor. There are many different types of opportunities available, so please look through them all before contacting a faculty member. If you have general questions about the internship program, please contact the Summer Intern Coordinator at beintern@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Ed Bergman, JD
1 intern
The intern will work on mutually agreeable dates during the summer to produce videos of simulated clinical mediations. That person should be skilled in the use of video taping equipment and have some acquaintance with video production skills such as lighting, sound, editing, etc. This would most likely involve periodic sessions lasting for half days or full days when all necessary parties can be assembled.

This is a volunteer position. To apply, contact Prof. Bergman at ejb@gear3.net

David Perlman, PhD
1 intern
From Anecdotes to Data: Use of Mixed Methods Research on the Use of Narratives to Assess Elements of Professionalism in a Newly Revised Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum
Prepared by David Perlman, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer and Lynn Dickinson, MSN RN ANP-BC GNP-BC

Project Description: This project will use mixed methods research to assess whether the use of narratives throughout Penn Nursing's undergraduate curriculum has or will have an impact on nursing student professionalism preparation (Voice, Inquiry, etc.) in their future careers. As a first step to this overall project, we would like an intern to:
1. Conduct a literature search on narrative and professionalism in the nursing and other health professions literatures, including investigation of tools, methods, and instruments to assess the impact of narrative on elements of professionalism.
2. Conduct a literature search on teaching rubrics for using narrative in various health professions educational programs
3. Prepare an annotated bibliography at the end of the internship period summarizing the resources. Hours and timeframe are negotiable. If two interns would like to work together, that's fine. Currently, there are no plans to pay the intern, but that may change depending on funding for the overall project.

This is currently a volunteer position. To apply, contact Dr. Perlman at perlmand@nursing.upenn.edu

Diana Zuckerman, PhD
1 intern
*Note location: option to work in Washington, DC or remotely from Philadelphia.
Our summer project includes research on the recall of medical devices (such as hips, heart valves, and glucose meters) that were on the market in the U.S. before being recalled because they had defects that caused deaths or permanent injuries. We will be analyzing data from official government data sets and will be publishing an article in a medical journal. We would like an intern to assist with the data analysis and a review of information from various sources, which includes comparing policies in the U.S. and EU as well as estimating the economic and human costs of those medical devices that were found to be dangerous. The intern can apply to come to DC (which enables them to attend Capitol Hearings and briefings, etc) or work from Philly. Either is fine.

If long-distance, we’d like a commitment of at least 15 hrs/week for 10 weeks. If they want to come to DC, we’d want close to full-time for at least 10 weeks (because the competition is greater for office space here).

This is a volunteer position. To apply, contact Dr. Zuckerman at dz@center4research.org

 

The following positions have been filled:

FILLED:
Francis Barchi, PhD & Jon Merz, PhD
The task is to identify the way in which national ethics review systems are organized in developing countries, in terms of enabling legislation, regulatory structure, and legal status. This information is needed for a forthcoming article in the series we are putting together around collaborative review processes. The internship will involve research, and some particularly inventive sleuthing on countries that have not supplied their information to the new databanks on ethics review. The work could potentially take about a month, or could be tackled as a job-share with another internship over a longer period.

FILLED:
Ed Bergman, JD
This intern will work on an article entitled "Improving Caregiver/Patient Communications Through Acquisition of Negotiating Skills." Ideally, this would be a 15-20 hour per week task commencing mid-June through end of August. With the exception of pre-arranged meetings, the intern can work on his/her own schedule. The candidate should possess writing and research skills.

FILLED:
Max Cavitch, PhD
The book I’m currently writing--Richard Nisbett's Privacy and Yours--focuses on the history and ethics of contemporary healthcare privacy law; research ethics and decedent subjects; and the history and practice of psychiatry in Philadelphia, from the 18th century to the present (chiefly with regard to the Pennsylvania Hospital). The intern would assist me with keeping up-to-date on the very latest research and policy literature and data regarding HIPAA; the procedural developments in legislation and IRB exceptions; legislative and policy initiatives to revise/correct the current HIPAA Privacy Rule; the status of actions/complaints filed by patients with HHS; and ongoing archival research on decedent subjects who were psychiatric patients at the Pennsylvania Hospital. I’m looking for one student who would not only be an energetic and conscientious researcher with an interest in healthcare (esp. psychiatric) privacy law, policy, and ethics, but also an engaged interlocutor--someone with whom to discuss informally the ideas and the stakes of the project from a variety of bioethical perspectives. Hours-per-week would be flexible, depending on duration of internship (likeliest timeframe would be between late June and early August), and the intern would have access to my on-campus office at designated times. $5 per hour to start; hourly could possibly be raised, depending on experience and quality of work.

FILLED:
Scott Halpern, MD, PhD
I have an opportunity for 1 student to (1) be one of the leaders (first or second author) of a computer-based study of enrollment in randomized trials in the intensive care unit, and (2) assist in recruiting family members of ICU patients into a study of decision making about end-of-life care. These two projects would complement each other, as the first would entail 20-25 hours per week of computer-based work, and the second would entail roughly 10 hours per week of recruiting family members in the ICU. The student would also have an opportunity to shadow me and/or my colleagues on ICU rounds as desired. The first project would entail retrieving articles electronically and abstracting data from them on the rates of enrollment in published randomized trials in the ICU setting, including approaches to obtaining and/or waiving informed consent. The second project would use video-based vignettes to evaluate how family members make decisions regarding the use of life-sustaining interventions (e.g., a breathing tube or dialysis) for their loved ones, and how these decision-making processes influence ultimate decisions to maintain or withdraw life support. Compensation is not financial; it is the guarantee of authorship on at least 1, and more likely 2-3 peer-reviewed publications. Perfect for someone with interest/experience in critical care medicine, end-of-life care, and/or research ethics. Students who wish to go to medical school are particularly encouraged, as these projects (and the shadowing opportunity) would provide perfect fits for medical school resumes and talking points on the interview trail.

FILLED:
Jason Karlawish, MD
1 intern
I have a focused research ethics project that needs one intern to research: (1) the history of the use of the term "participant"; (2) benefit language in informed consent and recruitment materials. The time commitment would be 30 hours/week or less--could be done in conjunction with another project.

FILLED:
James Kirkpatrick, MD
For #1 and #2, I could use a student who would potentially work in this area on several of the subprojects. #3 is a separate project for a third intern.

1. Resuscitation science and ethics projects:
- Exploration of the ethical and legal issues involved with acquisition and registration of automated external defibrillators (AED). There is a debate as to who should purchase these devices and if the purchaser should be required to register them (some do not out of fear of lawsuits).
- Empirical study using the MAUDE FDA database on the evaluation of AED malfunction
- Exploration of the language used in discussion withdrawal of life-sustaining care and prognostication in ICU patients who have been resuscitated after cardiac arrest
- Empirical investigation of the barriers and variability in enrollment of cardiac arrest patients in clinical trials
- Interviews of housestaff to explore variability in the length of codes to resuscitate patients in the hospital
- Empirical investigation of the opinions and experiences of international resuscitation science researchers on ethical issues involved with pre, intra and post resuscitation care.

2. Conflict of interest in clinical practice guidelines:
- Comparison between conflicts of interest reported by guideline authors and reviewers in guidelines produced by different specialties
- Interview assessment of the impact of conflicts of interest and trust in clinical practice guidelines

3. Living Wills for Pacemaker Reuse in developing world nations:
This project will involve interviewing patients with or who are being considered for pacemakers and defibrillators and offering them the opportunity to fill out a "living will for pacemakers/defibrillators" which will allow them to dictate what will happen to their device either after death of after it is taken out. The options include sending back to the manufacturer for quality improvement and also donating for reuse overseas. The project will investigate the feasibility using this document and how people fill it out.

FILLED:
Dom Sisti, PhD
The Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare
The Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare is based at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy. The ScattergoodEthics Program is one of the few programs in the United States dedicated to an examination of ethics across the allied fields of behavioral & mental healthcare. We invite applications for one summer internship position. As an intern you will support a range of program activities including philosophical and conceptual research, empirical research and data collection, community outreach and event planning. You will also be encouraged and supported as you complete an independent research project of publishable potential.

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