Internship Program Goals

• Provide valuable learning experiences to public health students
• Introduce students to governmental public health and emergency preparedness as career paths
• Enhance public health agencies’ projects through high-quality student work
• Build and strengthen relationships between public health agencies, students, and the School of Public Health

Benefits of Internships

• Develop the skills of the future public health workforce
• Introduce students to meaningful public service careers in governmental public health
• Benefit the community through mentorship of the next generation of public health professionals

Past Internships

Summer 2022 (pilot partnership with the Center for Public Health Systems)

Assessment of Capacity and Emergency Preparedness Plans

• Student conducted an analysis of the agency’s current plans, worked on developing a plan for training key staff, and created a COVID-19 community recovery toolkit

Site: Horizon County Public Health
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

COVID-19 Impact Assessment

• Student reviewed the existing community health needs assessment tool and helped design and implement a new survey to assess community health needs in the wake of COVID-19

Site: Polk County Public Health
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

Assessment of Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on Health Department Staff

• Student assisted with the evaluation and assessment of a staff wellbeing initiative to address burnout and used the data to create a presentation of the assessment.

Site: Pine County Public Health
Intern: MPH student (Community Health Promotion

Fall 2022

COVID-19 After Action Review

• Student reviewed and organized information from COVID-19 after-action reviews and key informant interviews into a report to help determine next steps in the after-action review and improvement planning process.

Site: Otter Tail County Public Health
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

Medical Reserve Corps. Volunteer Program Redevelopment

• Students conducted a needs assessment and assisted with organization and planning for redeveloping the volunteer program.

Site: City of Bloomington Public Health Division
Interns: 2 MPH students (1 from Environmental Health and 1 from Public Health Administration and Policy)

Survey Design and Analysis of Businesses that had COVID-19 Case Clusters

• Student created a survey and analyzed findings from businesses that had COVID-19 case clusters during the pandemic.

Site: MDH Center for Occupational Health and Safety
Intern: MPH student (Maternal & Child Health)

Monitoring and Evaluation of COVID-19 Community Programs 

• Student supported the monitoring and evaluation of community partnerships and contractor work to prevent COVID-19 infection and support community recovery.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: MHA student

COVID-19 Health Equity Research

• Student conducted research on health inequities for communities hit hardest by the pandemic who have experienced long-standing inequities, community engagement models, and the latest equity knowledge on community recovery.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

COVID-19 Response and Recovery in the Disability Community

• Student planned and conducted community forums and assisted with analyzing disability data.

Site: MDH Children & Youth with Special Health Needs Section
Intern: MPH student (Maternal & Child Health)

Spring 2023

Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan Development

• Student reviewed and updated existing emergency preparedness plans and assisted with building new emergency preparedness plans as needed.

Site: Crow Wing County Community Services
Intern: MPH student (Public Health Administration and Policy)

After Action Report and Improvement Plan Tracking Database

• Student developed and implemented a tracking tool in REDCap to monitor after-action reports and follow up corrective actions.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Environmental Health)

Emergency Preparedness and Response Qualitative Research

• Student collaborated with authors and researched journal requirements to submit a qualitative research article about emergency preparedness and disaster behavioral health.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Community Health Promotion)

Responder Health and Safety Annex Development 

• Graduate and undergraduate student collaborated to develop an outline for the Responder Health and Safety annex to the All-Hazards Response and Recovery Plan.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Interns: MPH student (Public Health Administration and Policy) and undergraduate student (Microbiology major with Public Health and Computational Biology minors)

Emergency Preparedness and Response Inventory and Tracking 

• Student created a current inventory of emergency preparedness and response supplies and developed a process to track supplies and maintain a current inventory.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: Undergraduate student (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior major with Public Health minor)

Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps. Member Communications 

• Student developed communication materials for the statewide Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps. including creating a member newsletter, building a site for training and tools, and updating the volunteer handbook.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: Undergraduate student (Nursing major with Public Health minor)

Summer 2023

Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan Development

• Student assessed emergency preparedness and response equipment inventory, developed interactive learning games for staff, consolidated partner contacts, and developed an emergency preparedness social media plan. 

Site: Carver County Public Health
Intern: MPH student (Environmental Health Sciences)

Public Health Emergency Preparedness Community Communication Toolkit

• Student developed tools and templates for local public health agencies regarding volunteer engagement, recruitment, and awareness of public health emergency preparedness, taking knowledge from COVID-19 to enhance response.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Public Health Nutrition)

COVID-19 School Health Website Revamp 

• Student updated the MDH school health website to include learnings from COVID-19 and changes since the pandemic.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Public Health Administration and Policy)

COVID-19 Response Qualitative Research

• Student collaborated with governmental public health staff to gather information and draft emergency preparedness and response articles, primarily based on the MDH Emergency Preparedness and Response Division’s COVID-19 work.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Public Health Administration and Policy)

Emergency Preparedness Disability Planning Literature Review

• Student conducted a literature review of disability related planning and emergency preparedness and response activities in the United States, paying special attention to lessons learned from the COVID-19 response.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

Disability Data Dashboard

• Student compiled disability data measures, researched data communication best practices, and developed dashboard design ideas to build off lessons learned through the pandemic and strengthen the state’s ability to more adequately serve persons with disabilities in emergency preparedness and response.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: MPH student (Data Science)

COVID-19 Case Research

• Students collected data on long COVID symptoms and infant COVID infection to improve understanding of COVID in specific population subgroups, identify potential opportunities for intervention, and create guidance documents.

Site: MDH Emerging Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Response Team
Intern: 4 MPH students (Epidemiology)

Healthcare Preparedness Stories Collection

• Student interviewed regional health care preparedness coordinators and members of health care coalitions to capture the importance of Minnesota’s health care coalitions in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities by providing firsthand accounts through stories.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: Undergraduate student (BIS with studies focused on public health and medical writing)

Advancing Health Equity

• Student supported efforts to address COVID-19 Disparities through data analysis, such as conducting COVID-19 and other data analysis that moves the focus from disparities to structural and systemic drivers of the disparities, including disaggregated analysis, collinearity, and intersectionality/layers of inequities.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: PhD student (Environmental Health Sciences)

Linked Trauma Dataset

• Student worked on data analysis to create a linked dataset with all EMS, trauma hospitals, and border hospital data on Minnesota patients, the need for which arose out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Site: MDH Division of Health Policy
Intern: PhD student (Health Services Research, Policy, & Administration)

COVID-19 Storytelling and Learning Tool Development

• Student identified topic areas and developed questions for the COVID-19 storytelling project, then conducted and analyzed interviews with public health practitioners about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Maternal & Child Health)

Fall 2023

Public Health Crisis Leadership Education and Training

• Student worked with the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Minnesota Department of Health to research and update crisis leadership materials.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Environmental Health Sciences)

Public Health Emergency Response Coordination

• Student worked with the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Minnesota Department of Health to research and summarize public health emergency response coordination practices.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Environmental Health Sciences)

COVID-19 Community Engagement

• Student worked with the Center for Health Equity at the Minnesota Department of Health to assist COVID-19 Community Coordinators with community engagement and field work related to testing, vaccination, and recovery.

Site: MDH Center for Health Equity
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

Spring 2024

Emergency Preparedness Workshop Poster Session Coordination

• Student organized and facilitated a poster session to highlight projects and accomplishments from local public health and Tribal Health partners at the 2024 Emergency Preparedness Coordinators’ Workshop.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MS student (Biostatistics)

Emergency Preparedness and Response Case Studies

• Students worked as a group to develop case studies on topics relating to equity and disaster response.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: 4 BA students (Public Health)

MnTIER Program Development

• Student developed training tools for the Minnesota Trauma Informed Emergency Response & Recovery (MnTIER) program.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Community Health Promotion)

MnTIER Program Assessment

• Student developed assessment tools for the Minnesota Trauma Informed Emergency Response & Recovery (MnTIER) program.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Maternal & Child Health)

COVID-19 Recovery Needs Survey Data Analysis

• Student supported the analysis and write-up of a cross-sectional study examining COVID-19 recovery needs in young Hmong adult athletes.

Site: Kaleidoscope-Kawm Thiab Siv, LLC
Intern: MS student (Biostatistics)

Community Engagement Education, Training, and Resource Identification

• Student supported the efforts of local public health departments throughout the state by developing a resource bank of community engagement training, education, toolkits, guides, and more.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Epidemiology)

Health Care Systems Resource Guide

• Student developed a resource guide of healthcare systems by jurisdiction that cover the continuum of care to serve as a reference for understanding staffing, equipment, and specializations in Minnesota’s health care systems.

Site: MDH Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response
Intern: MPH student (Maternal & Child Health)