Hello again! My name is Kelsey Williams and I am very excited to have begun my second semester interning with the NCI’s Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health program. I am a junior studying public health and I hope to go on to medical school and graduate degree in public health after Tulane. Eventually, I hope my career is centered on sexual and reproductive health promotion. I am grateful for this internship because it allows me to improve my research skills, explore a potential career path in research, and have an outlet beyond the classroom to work on the topics I am passionate about.
Through the internship, I am continuing to do research with Dr. Lederer at the graduate school of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Last semester I primarily worked on a literature review that explored the effectiveness of various types of digital sex education interventions. This semester I have moved on to analyzing Dr. Lederer’s own data on a web-based intervention that she implemented. She has already published analyses of many components of this study, and I am coding interviews on what student’s liked and disliked about the video lesson. We are hoping to produce an abstract proposal for this year’s APHA conference. It is great to be learning applied qualitative research skills, which will likely come in handy as I brainstorm ideas for a senior thesis.
Another component of the internship that I really enjoy are the bi-weekly RRRH intern meetings and monthly research team meetings with Dr. Lederer’s other two research assistants, Brittney and Andi. At these meetings we read articles, listen to speakers, and engage in discussions that broaden my understanding of reproductive justice, reproductive health, and good research practice. It is also great to have a friendship with my fellow interns to support each other’s work.
Looking forward to continuing another great semester!