EMERGE Internship Program

The Center for Health and Biosciences' Domestic Health Policy Program partners with Houston nonprofit EMERGE to train and mentor college students from underserved communities and promote diversity. Each summer, local Houston students from various colleges and universities throughout the country work as research assistants in our Health Economics, Child Health and Biomedical Research programs. These students are offered a six- to 10-week paid internship that provides valuable skills and experience through their participation in health policy research.

Current Interns

Alan Beltran Lara (Swarthmore College)

Tietchan Dang (Washington University in St. Louis)

Mia Hurts (Emory University)

Cindy Nguyen  (Emory University)

Wendy Olivares (Connecticut College)

Past Interns

Financial Support

The Center for Health and Biosciences offers an opportunity for donors to support the Health Policy Leadership Program for Underserved Students. The funding supports four to five students from underserved communities throughout Houston by offering them a paid internship that can provide valuable skills and experience.

Each intern is partnered with a CHB researcher whose focus areas may include domestic health policy, child and maternal health, and biomedical research. As part of the internship, the students assist in  ongoing research by conducting literature reviews, producing content for social media platforms, assisting in the authorship of publications, and completing other research-related tasks.

If you are interested in helping to increase the opportunities available to talented, underserved students in the Houston area by supporting the CHB’s Health Policy Leadership Program for Underserved Students, contact Leah Gross, the Baker Institute director of development, at lgross@rice.edu. Your generosity will provide a platform for underserved students interested in policy to gain experience beyond the classroom through valuable internship opportunities.

Current program support is provided in part by Wade Rakes.