Tufts Intern Spotlight: Sean Boyden at Brigham & Women's Hospital

Name: Sean Boyden
Organization:  Brigham and Women's Hospital, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy's Section of Clinical Sciences, Boston, MA

Hometown: Leominster, MA
Year: 2017
Major: Biopsychology & Community Health
Duration: Summer
Compensation: Unpaid

I mentioned in an earlier post that I spent part of this summer working as a research intern at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Specifically, I worked in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy's Section of Clinical Sciences. I learned a lot about myself and the internship process in general (and not just because my lengthy commute to Boston left me with exorbitant amounts of time for introspection), and the proximity of Tufts to Boston has made it possible for me to continue my internship into the school year (you can catch me flipping through orgo flashcards on the red line on Thursday and Friday afternoons). In keeping with our internship spotlights, I thought I'd shine a light inward and share my experience as an intern. Here's what I learned in between 2-hour train rides and crowded subway cars:

The best (or worst?) intern ever. (source)

Don't be intimidated by the learning curve. My major duties as an intern in a clinical research department were to review patient charts to determine their eligibility for our studies, and to contact patients by phone if they qualified for participation. At first, I was really bad at these jobs - like, really bad. I'd spend way too much time reading through charts, I'd get nervous on the phone and slip up in conversation - I was no expert. But an intern is never an expert; the point of an internship is to learn about something you don't know much about. Once I got a grip on what specifically to look for in a patient's chart, I could skim through it and quickly get to the parts I needed to read. Similarly, once I'd read through my phone script and practiced it (many, many times), I developed my own way of communicating all of the appropriate information to patients in my own voice. And, guess what? I got better. It took some time - I remember in the first few weeks of June, I'd leave the office and want to ram my head against a subway pole in frustration - but the only way to get better at it was to do it. If you encounter difficulty at first, don't run from it - face it head on, and work on it until it becomes easy.

Be eager and flexible. One of the most common pieces of advice that interns get is "Don't be afraid to do the grunt work." To expand on this (very true) suggestion, don't be afraid to do new things and take on new responsibilities. Not only does it add variety to your day, but it demonstrates your work ethic and willingness to your employer. At the start of my internship, I assisted with one study, which examines the role of central nervous system processing of pain in rheumatoid arthritis. Now, I help with at least four different studies, and do different things for each one. Because I was eager to help whenever my supervisor asked, I was able to really enhance my experience.

Don't be annoying, but definitely be eager! (source)

Reflect on the experience. This is something that I recommend to everyone who has completed an internship. By thinking about what you gained from the experience, what you liked and didn't like, and what you would do differently, you can foster an even better internship or job experience in the future, and learn a lot about yourself and your future career goals. My internship has made me realize that I definitely want to work in a clinical setting, where I can really reach people and improve their lives. Additionally, before my internship I'd never seriously entertained the idea of doing clinical research, but now I think I really want to incorporate this into my future. I love the applicability of clinical research, and its potential to help many people because of how understandable it is. In the future, I'm going to seek internship and job opportunities in clinical research, or more broadly, that share the values and themes of clinical research.

(source)

In case you couldn't tell, I had a really great internship experience. To everyone looking for a summer internship or thinking about doing one (DEFINITELY DO IT), I encourage you to really make the most of it and push yourself to be the best intern you can be - review those charts, print those agendas, and get stuff done.

Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017