Jong-Eun Park, COL ’25, Johns Creek, GA
I interned under Dr. Yasmin Hurd at the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai. She has a research team in both pre-clinical and clinical research of addiction, and I was assigned to the clinical research team because of my interest in psychiatry.
The best part was the people I got to talk to who were under her lab. PhDs and MD/PhDs were knowledgeable about the technical work behind bench science and pharmacology. PAs were experienced in facing and evaluating patients. CRCs were skilled at keeping the research on track and dealing with government regulations that must be followed. Outreach workers were familiar with what different patient populations struggle with and how to accommodate and help each of them. Dr. Hurd, the mastermind behind the entire process, was a pioneer and respected senior in the field of addiction. I learned about different aspects of medical research from each of them which helped me imagine a career in medicine.
Location was another big reason I wanted to work at Mount Sinai. The exposure and accessibility you gain from New York is unlike any other city. I was able to visit four separate methadone clinics and meet patients from different boroughs who all had interesting life stories. Though it’s unfortunate to say, the large addiction population in New York allows for easy recruitment and an ideal learning environment. I was also able to shadow physicians at the Beth-Israel clinic and learn more about current treatment options for substance abuse.
Immersing myself in this unique field and taking advantage of the city helped me think about my career opportunities upon graduation and what type of work environment I’d like to be part of. 10/10 would recommend.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2023 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
