Myles Bao, COL ’27, McLean, VA
This past summer I worked at Children’s National Hospital located in Washington, DC. One of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation I was fortunate enough to be exposed to a top level NICU, PICU, research labs, and so much more. Studying Neuroscience and Healthcare Management I knew I was interested in both the hard science and the business management. However, having only experienced what research looked like I was hoping to better understand the intersection between business and healthcare by understanding the ins and outs of hospital function.
While at Children’s National Hospital my time was divided between three parts, research within a lab, shadowing hospital executives, and helping with the METEOR program. My research primarily focused on improving methods using adaptive T-cells to target neoplastic tumors. Analyzing issues like exhaustion, micro-biomes, and more I began to realize how critical it was for research to be targeted, goal driven, and applicable. By using tumor cells from past hospital patients and analyzing patient data the hospital was in a unique position to uniquely direct research in a way to maximize patient care.
Shadowing with Eric Vaughn, Dr. Dome, and Dr. Cronin were some of the most enlightening experiences for me. My view of healthcare professions was narrow and close-minded. However, talking with individuals who had experience with MD’s, MHA’s, MBA’s, PhD’s and more I began to realize the hundreds of different career paths I could take. I learned about how more entrepreneurial focuses could lead into ambulatory surgery centers and key differences between an MBA and MHA.
But, perhaps the most rewarding for me was working with the METEOR program. A summer internship program designed to help high school students get exposure to hospital procedures, research, and clinicals. As a pseudo-mentor I interacted with the students as they became acquainted to the hospital helping them with shadowing and mentoring. Watching them grow and become comfortable and effective within the hospital space was truly a rewarding experience and something I wasn’t anticipating when I first started my internship. Moving forward I’m excited to explore the multitude of careers that I’m now aware of as I continue my academic journey.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2024 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
