Notes from the Field: Alexandrea Adams ’18

Alexandrea Adams ’18 interned with New America, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C., for the Spring 2017 term. The following is an excerpt from her internship report.

This past spring I had the opportunity of interning with Dr. Blumenthal, the senior fellow of health policy, at New America in Washington D.C. Under her mentorship, I conducted research on various health laws and policies, wrote reports on my findings, attended many health related conferences, and met other important leaders in public health. My daily tasks including researching and analyzing current events within the health field, such as the Mexico City Policy, women in clinical trials, and the current health law debate. I then created reports and presentations for Dr. Blumenthal to include in her studies. I also had the responsibility of managing social media for the organization, which included two Twitter accounts, the Facebook account, and New America’s website, in order to highlight articles relevant to our interests and live-tweet events. At least once per week, I attended either a conference, symposium, or informational gathering about a global health topic.  I took notes during these events and relayed them back to Dr. Blumenthal.  These events were often very interesting and provided great networking opportunities.  They also led me to some very interesting spots in D.C. and allowed me to hear from some very insightful speakers.

Toward the end of my internship, I had the opportunity to write an article about the current health law debate that has been published in the Huffington Post. Writing the article was one of the most rewarding experiences from my internship, yet it also posed a challenge for I had to constantly revise my article as new data became available and Congress made decisions about the law. Due to the seriousness of the topic as well as the structure of the paper itself, I strived to make sure every thought I wrote was completely accurate. This experience taught me the critical skill of how to portray my thoughts in a nonpartisan way even when the topic has become quite political. Additionally, the internship has taught me a lot about what I want to do in the future and has given me insight on how to get there. I now know that I have a passion for public health and would like to continue to do research and make decisions that can improve the well-being of society. This internship has reaffirmed my desire to obtain a Master of Public Health degree and work to alleviate health disparities. I feel like interning at New America was essential for me to learn about my career goals, and the support of the Rockefeller Center was crucial to my internship. Overall, I am very glad I had this experience, and thankful to the Rockefeller Center for making it possible.

Read Alexandrea’s article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/health-care-reform-and-women-a-comparison-of-the_us_59317f88e4b0649fff21184c