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On-the-Job Learning for NCCU Interns

Program helps prepare students for health profession careers

The NCCU students completing health internships this summer gather on their first day at Duke. Front row: Marcia Robinson (Duke coordinator), Tiffany Moore, Shannon Alston, Shameka Harvey and Briawn Patrick. Back row: Christopher Mack, Yousef Lafi, Mario
The NCCU students completing health internships this summer gather on their first day at Duke. Front row: Marcia Robinson (Duke coordinator), Tiffany Moore, Shannon Alston, Shameka Harvey and Briawn Patrick. Back row: Christopher Mack, Yousef Lafi, Marion Grant and Damilola Okunsokan.
Marsha A. Green

Eight North Carolina Central University students are immersing themselves in health professions for 10 weeks this summer as part of a joint Duke-NCCU Clinical Health Summer Internship Program.

The program aims to put a small dent in the under-representation of minorities in health professions by giving NCCU students hands-on health experience during their college years to encourage them to pursue health careers, said Charles McClinton, director of the NC Health Careers Access Program at NCCU, during a celebratory kick-off May 16 for the interns.

Started in 1988, the program has been remarkably successful with 85 to 90 percent of participants entering into professional training schools in medicine, dentistry and other areas of health.

"This is a program that has truly lived up to its expectations," McClinton said.

Marcia Robinson, a recruiter for Duke Human Resources and coordinator for the program at Duke, has been placing interns with one or more mentors in their chosen area for 18 years. "We look for mentors who can provide great experiences that will help the student answer that burning question: is this the right career for me?" she said.

That's exactly what Tiffany Moore will consider as she shadows Gary Tencer, assistant director of Duke's Occupational and Environmental Safety Office. She's interested in working for the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). "This is my chance to see what it might be like," she said.

This year's participating interns and mentors are: 

  • Damilola Okunsokan, working with preceptors Dr. Paul Tawney and Dr. Gloria Liu in Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Tiffany Moore, working with preceptor Gary M. Tencer in Occupational and Environmental Safety Office
  • Christopher Mack, working with preceptor Cathrine Hoyo, PhD, in Community and Family Medicine
  • Shameka Harvey, working with preceptors Jennifer Stout and Janet Wootton in Pediatrics
  • Marion Grant, working with preceptor Wayne Terrell, in Pathology
  • Shannon Alston, working with preceptor Dr. Robert Benjamin, in Pediatric Endocrine (Lenox Baker)
  • Yousef Lafi and Briawn Patrick, working with preceptors James Stefanadis and Kevin Crumpler in Out Patient Central Pharmacy

Contact: Marcia Robinson
Affiliation: Duke University Human Resources
Phone: (919) 684-5600