Marcus Andrews in Atlanta!


July 27, 2015

Marcus Andrews

Amidst the GW graduation season, I prepared to leave for Atlanta for an 11 week internship at Morehouse School of Medicine through a collaboration between Morehouse College and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Upon my arrival, I was introduced to over 40 other scholars from around the country with whom I'd be working closely throughout the duration of the internship. The first two weeks involved intense training in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Health Disparities, and Scientific Writing. During this time we also attended the CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Conference at the CDC. This conference included many panels  and networking opportunities with both current public health leaders and undergraduate interns participating in similar programs at The Kennedy Krieger Institute, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan. These experiences provided us with the skill sets to be effective at our respective placement sites.

For 8 weeks, I interned at Morehouse School of Medicine’s David Satcher Health Leadership Institute and their Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center. The primary goal of this institute is to develop public health leaders to ameliorate health disparities. Specifically, I was tasked to create an asset map of the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, one of the most disadvantaged regions in the city. My research consisted of windshield and walking surveys, interviews with key community leaders, and internet searches. I was able to identify and map over 60 health assets that are easily accessible for the residents of this area. I also aided in the development of a curriculum to train community health workers. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore the realm of public health during this internship.