During their senior year in the Biomedical Pathway, students participate in internships that the pathway has been preparing them for years through curricula including hands-on tasks, projects, and real-world applications.
Biomed Teacher Janelle Aleksic said, “All years leading up to this part of our pathway prepared them for their internships. They learn skills in healthcare, biotech, soft skills and how to learn and work with other people and a boss. Essentially, the whole program in general is what prepares them for these internships.”
Senior Eryn Medina interns at Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a medical center that provides primary care and specialty health services, including mental health care and pain management. Medina said, “For the first part of the internship, I’ve been working as an escort, so I transfer patients from one room to another or if they have to get an MRI done, we transfer them on the gurney or in wheelchairs. We are also in charge of transporting medicine and specimens for testing.”
The internship program has not happened since 2020 due to COVID-19. Biomed Teacher Jessica Bosch said, “It took me the entire first semester; countless hours of hard work, networking, begging and pleading. I was able to secure either hospital, clinic, biotech or research positions for all 60 students. Pre-COVID we had partnerships with the VA La Jolla Hospital and UCSD Medical Center, La Jolla. Students were invited back to intern at those sites. Many of the biomed students are interning at Boz Institute with Ken Hirata, scientist extraordinaire, doing environmental metagenomic studies.”
Senior Andrea Lanatta-Valera interns at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company that develops and sells gene silencing therapeutics. Lanatta-Valera said, “At my internship, what they do is create drugs that target RNA sequences. We’re being taken through the whole process where we start in Envivio, where they test the drug, then we move to histology where they take the samples, stain the cells and look at them under the microscope. My favorite part is learning new things.”
“My goal is to learn new things and get as much experience as possible, because I want to be a veterinarian, so this will help me go into biology,” said Lanatta-Valera.
Senior Eliza Hudson interns at UC San Diego (UCSD) Health, where patient care, biomedical research and education are provided. Hudson said, “I intern at UCSD West Wing Inter Media Health Unit. I do a lot of stuff from moving things around the lab to taking things to the lab as well as getting blood from the blood bank. A lot of my time is doing receptionist work like taking calls and helping patients when I can.”
Another internship opportunity for students has been at the Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health, an advanced medical center that’s home to inpatient care, surgical facilities, outpatient clinics, a blood bank, and a pharmacy. Senior Ernesto Romero is among the interns there. He said, “I work at the pneumatic tube system which is where we send and receive blood and urine samples from patients. I also help unbox a bunch of tools for blood drawing and occasionally help with pipetting.”