Lab Matters Summer 2025 | Page 12

CAREER PATHWAYS

with what she has accomplished in the little time that she has been with us.” Buchweitz said.

Dodd enjoys promoting both the veterinary diagnostic laboratory and the Career Pathways program.

“ Every time I get to talk to students as a captive audience, tell them all how veterinary diagnostic laboratories are going to save the world and it’ s the world’ s best career- it’ s shameless. APHL has allowed us to be able to make good on those promises and to get students excited about the work that happens at our laboratory, which has been priceless.” Dodd said.“ It has been an impressive program. It has allowed us to bring in people, have them do super cool projects that directly serve our mission. And that that, of course, is one of our goals as well,” Dodd said.” g

it is important to have activities to catch students up that may have been previously absent. When not teaching, volunteers organized supplies and refined workflows to prepare for future events.

Reflection

Having a rotating cast of volunteers each week proved beneficial. Students were very interested in talking about individual public health careers and pathways to those careers. The rotation of volunteers made it possible to revisit this question each session, providing students with a range of different experiences. There are many possible career pathways, and it is important for students to see this in action. New volunteers each week also brought a fresh energy and excitement to the lessons. Many agreed that event planning experience is key to improving this activity. For many, this was the first time engaging not only with the community, but with a younger generation of scientists. Consistency and repetition will allow both organizers and volunteers to improve this event and others like it in the future.

Reflecting on her experience, volunteer Erin Hughes, Research Scientist 2 at New York State Department of Health- Wadsworth Center, said,“ So often an outreach interaction is limited in time, space and resources. Taking part in Rise High allowed an expanded time to share our own lived experiences in the public health field and infuse passion into the subject matter. The experience of performing a real experiment is invaluable. When the lesson has suddenly jumped off the screen and into their hands— students learn exactly how they, too, can make a real impact on the world.” g

as interns laid the foundation for their bigger projects as fellows. Entering the fellowship already understanding expectations and the project— including already having discussed the details of the project plan with their mentor— allowed them to hit the ground running.

Fellows in general have a great sense of community, further enabled by the resources provided by APHL, but starting as interns meant they already had connections in the laboratory world and could build connections more quickly. They also found that when a laboratory is already hosting interns and fellows, they could turn to each other to understand aspects of the fellowship like logistics, travel and policies, making these sometimes obtuse topics more digestible. They had a firm footing in biosafety and quality principles from their internship; they had a solid sense of why many laboratory practices are done, which allowed them to tackle a project with greater understanding.

While some fellows may come in with hands-on laboratory experience or work experience, interns who become fellows are especially well equipped as they already have the basic skills necessary to succeed in a public health laboratory and complete a project. Their interpersonal skills are well developed for the setting, and they can work well both in a team with other scientists as well as independently. Previous interns are more open with their thoughts and needs and able to have productive conversation, perhaps due to being more acclimated to the specific public health laboratory and its culture. g