Durham Students Meet Lifelike Patients

As part of Duke’s summer internship programs, Durham youth get a closeup look at healthcare careers

A teenager uses a stethoscope to monitor the simulated heartbeat of a mannequin at Duke University's Center of Nursing Discovery.
Interns toured the state-of-the-art simulation center at the Duke University School of Nursing's Center for Nursing Discovery, where nursing students develop hands-on skills using realistic adult and pediatric manikins. Photo by Andrew Buchanan/Duke University School of Nursing.

On a scorching hot Monday afternoon following the July 4th weekend, Durham Public School students gathered in a cool classroom on campus to begin orientation for the MaryAnn Black Summer Internship, which ended on July 24.

Black was the Duke University health leader and Durham civic stalwart who, 10 years ago, began a paid summer internship program that introduced high school students to careers in healthcare. “She was a proponent of making sure young people have an opportunity,” said Kimberly Monroe, internship organizer and program manager with Duke’s Office of Community Health.

The program is a partnership between Duke Health, Durham Public Schools (DPS) and YouthWorks, a Durham program that offers paid internships to local youth.

Duke University student Lourdes Dubose handed out boxed lunches to the interns, explaining that the first day of orientation was in person, and the following two days would be virtual sessions to introduce the interns to professional development. Dubose is a rising senior and co-director of the internship program, who also served as a mentor to the students.

Dubose was joined by fellow Duke student mentors Mayah Ding, a biology major on a pre-dental track, and Amira Younce, a public policy major with a health policy concentration. Ding and Younce are also rising seniors and summer interns in Duke’s Office of Community Affairs, a role funded through the Duke Endowment.  They are all interested in healthcare careers.

“For some of the (interns), it’s their first exposure to healthcare access and programs in the health profession,” Dubose added.

Syretta Hill, senior director for economic mobility with Duke University’s Office of Community Affairs, noted that 31 DPS students participated in the program. That’s a slight increase over previous years.

“We feel confident that we can more than double our numbers next summer and hit if not exceed our three-year goal of 75 (interns),” Hill said.

Expanded Opportunities for Youth

The effort is a part of HomeGrown, a commitment by Duke to invest $203 million over three years to create and expand greater economic opportunities at Duke for Durham and Triangle residents. 

In addition to the MaryAnn Black Summer Internship, Hill pointed to the launch of a pilot program through YouthWorks for students to intern at several other Duke offices. This effort included a DPS graduate working with the Office for Institutional Equity, two DPS students supporting the We the People initiative, and two former DPS students gaining experience within the Office of Information Technology.

Joshua Gunn, director of Durham’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which supervises YouthWorks, said moving city residents “from one end of the city’s low-income spectrum to the higher income end,” is at the heart of the city’s strategic economic plan. “Economic mobility starts in youth.”

“Economic mobility starts in youth.”

Joshua Gunn, Director of Durham’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development

HomeGrown’s three-year goal via YouthWorks: create 75 new paid internships and increase annual youth placements from a baseline of 154 to 229 positions.

HomeGrown is also investing in younger DPS students to nurture talents that may translate into viable career opportunities when they are adults. This includes ACCELER-8, a career exploration day that reached about 2,000 middle school students last year.  There were also two job-shadowing events that provided students with direct exposure to careers across the university.

The MaryAnn Black internship is bolstered by the new Durham Early College of Health Sciences, a partnership between Duke Health, DPS and Durham Technical Community College. The program, which completed its first year in the spring, prepares high school students for careers in healthcare and provides a job pipeline directly into Duke Health.

The Three-Week Internship Program

Over the course of the three-week program, the interns heard presentations from a battery of healthcare professionals: doctors, nurses, physical therapists and social workers, along with workers from information technology.

A hands-on component included visits to the Center of Nursing Discovery, a state-of-the art simulation center at the Duke University School of Nursing, along with tours of a sterile processing lab at the Duke Medicine Pavillion, and the Duke Cancer Center.

A group of students standing in a medical setting
Interns tour the Center for Nursing Discovery. Photo by Andrew Buchanan.

One of the MaryAnn Black interns, Teniola “KiKi” Ajayi, graduated last month from the Durham School of the Arts and this fall will attend the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, where she wants to earn a double major in psychology and criminal justice.

Ajayi says she always been “stuck” between deciding if she wants to study psychology or psychiatry. “I feel like this internship will give me a broader explanation of what other fields are in healthcare,” said Ajayi. One career Ajayi has been thinking of is forensic psychology, with a focus on individuals with dissociative identity disorders.

“I definitely want to go into healthcare,” she added. “So, finding out about different [opportunities] and knowing what you have to do to achieve them is interesting.”