The Health Informatics (HI) program at the University of Pittsburgh begins in the fall term of Junior year. Once the fall semester gets underway, new students meet their professors and classmates, commence HI classes and delve into the health informatics field. As part of the student’s orientation, I host career service days to introduce students to the support I provide to assist with finding an internship and begin prepping for their post-degree career. Although it seems premature to begin this process so soon, many organizations begin internship recruiting for the following summer during this time. Career service days provide guidance on writing resumes and cover letters, creating and updating student LinkedIn profiles, and using HandShake as a venue for finding internships. In addition, we host recruiting sessions with top employers of HI students and graduates. Recruiters return every fall looking for fresh faces to continue the tradition of bringing on Pitt HI talent for internships, or full-time employment!
To help with finding internship opportunities, we developed an “Immersive Experience” Canvas site where students can find all relevant information about internships in one location at any time. This site includes material such as the logistics of securing an internship or required documents, career services resources, a listing of sites which previously hosted Pitt HI students, tips on professionalism and service, and assignment portals for internship-related course work.
You may be curious where HI students intern, since it is a question I am frequently asked. I am thrilled to share some of the impressive organizations where HI students will be this summer, including Athena, CVS/Aetna, Deloitte, Merck, UPMC and 3M! Students will have varied experiences by working with different health technology applications. They’ll be working in data management and electronic health record implementation and upgrading, data analytics and other exciting areas of the HI field!
By providing career development support, my goal is to give every student the tools they need to highlight their unique capabilities as they work towards becoming HI professionals. The personal attention given to HI students is one of the many strengths of the Pitt HI program and I am proud to see their tremendous success!
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Written by: Patti Anania-Firouzan MSIS, RHIA
Assistant Professor and Clinical Education Coordinator, Department of Health Information Management