Jada Gorgor - Completing an Internship (5 points)

Career Development - Completing an Internship (5 points)

Over the summer, I had the honor of being selected as a scholar for the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. The goal of this intensive professional development program is to expose scholars with leadership potential to the healthcare landscape and create a pipeline of emerging leaders to address healthcare disparities. Throughout those two weeks, I researched and led an in-depth case study about the lack of accessibility to Glucagon-Like Peptide drugs (e.g. Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, etc.) for numerous U.S. populations. 

While at the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute, we were put into various social and professional networking environments. During the second week, we engaged in lunch and professional mixers with healthcare administrators, senior financial officers, non-profit CEOs, chief legal officers, vice presidents, and other high-ranking leaders. I truly valued these experiences because they expanded my understanding of various roles in law, business, and healthcare while gaining direct insight and advice from leaders in each field. These networking spaces strengthened my delivery of my elevator pitch and taught me how to ask thoughtful questions. We also had dedicated activity days where we played golf, pickleball, and went bowling. In these moments, I was not only able to build relationships with the professionals who attended, but also learn new techniques in golf and pickleball directly from them. As I received guidance, I took direction quickly and improved my form and scoring, demonstrating my adaptability in unfamiliar settings.

Additionally, I also received shadowing experience as I was able to shadow a case manager at University Health in their inpatient psychiatric department and at a local group home. Following her for the day gave me insight on how to build relationships and effectively care for individuals undergoing behavioral health treatment. As a psychology major, I thoroughly valued the hands on experience and witnessing the application of textbook knowledge to real life patients!

By: Jada Gorgor