VDH Internship Academy Paves the Way for the Next Generation of Public Health Talent
January 28, 2025 | ASTHO Staff
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Internship Academy offers degree-seeking students and recent graduates a unique opportunity to dive into public health careers. Launched with support from the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG), the program provides real-world experience, fosters workforce development, and offers paid internships that allow participants to focus on their professional growth. With a significant increase in applications, many interns have gone on to secure full-time positions at VDH, making the VDH Internship Academy an essential pipeline for developing the next generation of public health professionals.
Transcript
Some answers have been edited for clarity.
JEFF STOVER:
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) started the Internship Academy because we didn't really have an infrastructure that was in place to provide college students and new graduates with an opportunity to really dive into what public health is.
We started our VDH Internship Academy program based on a model that had been put in place by what we call the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services. We took what they had and kind of put it on steroids and used it as an impetus to really create a framework.
It sat on a shelf for a few years because we didn't have a funding mechanism. But thankfully, a grant like the Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHIG) came along, which really helped give us a funding kick to put this kind of thing in place and really get it moving.
EMILY HINES:
I think it's a very solid, organized program that does a great job of paying the students. Well, that's something that I think has been overlooked for so long.
FELICIA BAEZ SMITH:
This is real public health experience. You get to understand the culture of a company. You get to come in as a wage employee and understand the systems behind the scenes of how I enter in my time, and I have HR, and there's policies.
HINES:
This means everybody has a chance to participate, regardless of their finances and their backgrounds. I think that's just been a huge benefit, not just to VDH, but to our whole state.
STOVER:
One of the biggest successes of the academy to date has been the number of people who are applying each year.
In year 1, 2023, we had 411 applications. We brought in 26 students. In year two, we decreased the time period for submitting applications by two weeks because we had such a high volume the first year. But instead of having fewer applicants, we actually increased it by almost 150, so we had 546 applicants in the second year, and we brought in 29 students this year.
TES LA DIEU:
We have interns that are focusing on programmatic-specific initiatives, and then we have interns that are looking at things like regulatory affairs and governmental relations, and all those things really make a difference and impact, you know, every Virginian.
LAURA LEE WIGHT:
I think it helps broaden their horizons on what careers could look like, especially when you think about access to really rural communities or communities that you might not necessarily know what a job in public health might look like. We're really excited to have interns come out to our space and to our community and see the great work that we're doing at a local health district level.
HINES:
Our intern did a really great job of connecting with our community members by interviewing key stakeholders and gathering information about what health issues matter most to those who live, work, play, and worship in the community.
We will use the data that they've collected to establish priorities that will eventually be turned into a plan where we systematically work to address the health outcomes of people, which we all know prevents all sorts of issues, whether it be mental health, chronic diseases, and much more.
WIGHT:
You know, I think we like to use the word force expander right in public health and in local government, and 100% that is really what the Internship Academy provided.
Our intern actually worked in maternal child health efforts within our health district, which I mentioned is a rural health district, and the 10 weeks and the full 40 hours a week allowed her to really get engaged with communities across our district—it's a very large district.
SARA BRINKMOELLER:
Public health is changing, and to get people to see that, that it's not just working to provide care to people, but it's also working in systems, working with partnerships, and having that broader view of what public health can be. And so, helping the interns see that as they're still in school and giving them a taste of what that would look like, I think, is really critical.
DELANEY STRATTON:
The opportunity that the VDH Internship Academy offers is so unparalleled; like, there's no other internship experience, as an internship applicant, that I saw that came even close to what this one has to offer, and even receiving an interview for this position was honestly the honor of a lifetime, and I'm so grateful that I've made it to this stage where I can move forward and affect change in a community because the VDH is enabling me.
TWINKLE OLIVER:
The Internship Academy has a huge impact on our workforce. This is how we get our name out there and hire young, new talent that comes with new ideas.
STOVER:
The Internship Academy is hopefully going to become a catalyst and sort of a pipeline for talent acquisition at the Department of Health. I think we succeeded in that in our inaugural cohort in 2023. We hired three of our interns as full-time employees right in the health districts or central office programs where they were working. The rest of the interns were going back to school and completing their degrees.
We need to invest in our young people and invest in all those Virginians who are getting educated through their collegiate experience and bringing them into state government to do better for others.