NOTES FROM THE FIELD: GABRIELLE HUNTER '20

Gabrielle Hunter '20 interned at the CDC Center for Global Health during the 2019 winter term. The following is an excerpt from her internship report.

As a Global Health Policy Intern for CDC Center for Global Health this winter, I worked with the Strategy and Planning Team on projects aiming to strengthen policy capacity for CDC’s global staff in over 60 countries across the world and develop partnership opportunities to advance strategic priorities for the Center for Global Health. I supported the CDC Foundation public private partnership development for the 7 Priority Country initiative, including development of a donor engagement strategy for Nigeria. I participated in preparation for key multilateral engagements such as the National Institute of Health of Colombia, World Health Assembly, WHO Executive Board meetings, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

I conducted data analysis on key Nigerian stakeholders to develop a donor engagement strategy that could be utilized by the CDC Foundation. I used the CDC Foundation database to research about high net worth Nigerian individuals and companies listed as members of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce. During weekly meetings with the CDC Foundation liaisons, I reported the shared health interests and philanthropic goals of the stakeholders that could successively help the CDC Foundation prioritize the most probable donors to actualize the organization's health equity goals for Nigeria. Additionally, I assisted the team to develop a metrics system to track and summarize all visits to CGH in the past year. The overview would help the Strategy and Planning team assess which organizations the agency is engaging with the most, the nature of the visits, and how to redirect their resources in the upcoming year.

I spent the last few weeks developing profiles of key U.S based global health organizations. These comprehensive readouts consisted of pertinent information that would guide the team’s future engagements with each organization, including each organization's key leadership; global health priorities; available resources; role in policy and advocacy; current projects; and most recent interactions with the CDC. For several weeks, I spoke extensively about the Nigeria project, updating my supervisor, Joel, on the progress of my work and the areas of highest interest to the division for engagement. I was privileged with creative freedom throughout the research and summation processes to report the information that I gathered in whichever way that I found most effective. This autonomy allowed me to take full ownership over my work. It made me feel like a contributing member of the Strategy and Planning team, rather than just an intern.

My eight weeks interning at the CDC informed both my academic and professional endeavors. I was moved by the immediate impact that I was able to have within my team and by the relationships that I was privileged to make in a small team setting. Despite the small team dynamic, I witnessed the Strategy and Planning team having a wide sphere of influence within the division, throughout CDC, and among outside parties. Given this experience, I see myself working in a similar setting in the future that would allow me to work closely with team members, as well as larger public and private actors. Over the several weeks at the CDC, my eyes were opened to the wider intersectionalities that exist among health other sectors and I am now considering future academic engagements with law and business. I would like to thank the Rockefeller Center and the McSpadden family who so graciously allowed me to pursue this opportunity.

The Rockefeller Internships Program has funding for Dartmouth undergraduate students to help defray the cost of living expenses associated with a full-time, unpaid, leave-term internships in the fields of public policy, public affairs, and social entrepreneurship.