Overview

Health & Medicine’s internship program provides an excellent opportunity for people wishing to begin a career in health policy with a focus on advancing health equity and eliminating and redressing structural inequities. This internship program is dedicated to supporting learning, network growth, and successful career launch. Interns will be able to gain exposure to health-related policy and/or practice projects and to focus on one of the main project areas at Health & Medicine.

We are especially interested in applicants pursuing careers focused on health policy, public health, social work, and advancing health equity. Applicants should be currently enrolled in (or recently graduated from) a graduate degree program in the greater Chicagoland area. Graduate students residing in the Chicagoland area and enrollled in online graduate programs out of state are also eligible.

To allow students to apply to any cohort at any time, our internship application remains open throughout the year. For consideration in the corresponding cohort, applications must be submitted by the following deadlines:

Spring (February – April): November 13, 2023

Summer (June – August): April 8, 2024

Fall (October – December): August 12, 2024

Apply today!

In 2018, Health & Medicine created an Internship Equity Committee charged with developing a new model for internships, called the Equity Intern Program, in which unpaid intern labor is replaced with a paid internship model, and for which we established a “one door” application process so that opportunities are not limited to the well-connected. Providing paid internships is an important step toward creating and sustaining a diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive workforce.

A successful internship can be an integral part of a person’s education and professional development. Our internship program supports the next generation of professionals who share the belief in our mission of health equity and social justice. Health & Medicine supports three cohorts of three interns per year for a total of nine interns, including one Ben Squires Equity Intern and one HiteHass Equity Intern.

While projects vary, interns may be involved with the following types of work:

• Researching and analyzing policy and writing reports, briefs, or fact sheets relevant to public health, health care, health workforce, and topics relevant to Health & Medicine projects
• Helping track the progress of bills and ordinances at the state, county, and city level and Health & Medicine’s advocacy for each of these
• Planning, sharing resources for, and following up on health policy forum and roundtable events
• Organizing information and coordinating projects related to health policy and public health capacity building
• Joining staff at various collaborations and coalitions