The College to Career Diversity Internship Program (CDIP) mission is to build and empower a diverse future health care workforce by providing bright and motivated fourth-year undergraduate students and recent graduates with meaningful, 10-week, full-time paid internships at our member hospitals across the region. CDIP also provides HASC members the opportunity to meet broader diversity and workforce initiatives and creates an efficient means of integrating new talent into open positions.

Our members play a key role in serving as host organizations and by dedicating preceptors to provide guidance and mentorship to help immerse young people into a professional work environment. Host organizations also expose interns to leadership roles, structure, operations and allow them to gain new insights as they prepare for health careers, while also providing a training stipend.

As we reflect on our successful 2021 CDIP program in partnership with Health Career Connection (HCC), we are honored to highlight City of Hope as one of our leading organizations. Since 2019, they have hosted 11 CDIP interns, including six this year and hired two interns. In addition, this year they hosted 100 interns through various programs, and helped participants to develop real-world skills by working on vital health care projects at their hospital both onsite and remotely.

We want to acknowledge Robin Clayton, City of Hope’s talent acquisition director, for her outstanding work as a preceptor and program champion. 

“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are infused into the DNA of City of Hope and the CDIP interns are a large part of that,” Clayton said recently.

Clayton’s commitment to diversity and innovation aligns with CDIP’s mission and with City of Hope’s philosophy to make hope a reality for patients and communities as illustrated by her testimonial below.

City of Hope Talent Acquisition Director Robin Clayton.

List the major projects your interns engaged in during their summer internship.

Aja Drain, Host Department: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “Aja worked on many projects, but one was Situational Inclusivity Training for the organization. She was an integral part of Road for Inclusive Leadership for the organization and led the interviews with all the Employee Resource Groups. During this internship, Aja realized that she does not need to be a physician to make a difference in patients’ lives. She is weighing her options for her advanced degree.”

Ewan Frick, Host Department: Office of the CFO (Finance). “Ewan brought so much to the table with his finance background and extreme interest in the field for his career. He was able to be a key member of the team that worked on the Value Realization Project for the organization. Additionally, he analyzed all expense reports for that lean project and worked with large data sets daily. He realized that he does not have to be in patient care to help the patient.”

Karina Morales, Host Department: Talent Acquisition/Human Resources. “Karina was my right and left hand with the implementation of the 2021 College Student Summer Internship. She participated in the interviews and selections of the cohort, assisted with the development of the networking and professional development trainings for the entire cohort. Karina played an integral part in the success of this program! Karina learned so much about HR and the functions we play that will help her in her future medical practice. Karina is in the interview process for medical schools and hopes to become a neurosurgeon.”

Krystal Cheung, Host Department: International Medicine. “Krystal was an important part of the team. She re-designed the International Medicine website, re-designed the patient intake workflow, and worked on both the patient resource guide and patient introduction video. Krystal’s background brought a fresh perspective to the team.”

Preetham Bachina, Host Department: Research Computative Quantitative. “Preetham was an essential team member to this research internship. He was able to begin the geospatial mapping of the CTS data and lay the groundwork for future public health projects examining geographic proximity to environmental determinants of health. Preetham managed to isolate the cohort of CTS individuals living with wildfire perimeters since 1995 and further identify which individuals have since passed away. With this identified cohort, a statistical analysis can be relatively easily implemented by future project members to determine if a statistically significant difference exists in mortality rates between exposed individuals and non-exposed individuals. And, now he is in his first year of medical school.”

Shalae Lewis, Host Department: Human Resources, Compensation & Labor Relations. “Shalae was a trooper when her original internship, still within HR, changed to another host manager. In her time within the internship, she worked on projects such as union agreements/relations, and the compensation portion of those union negotiations. She used her extensive technology skills to accomplish these projects.”

Describe the impact CDIP intern(s) had on your projects, organization, and/or department.

“I have had the pleasure of leading college internships for many years, and every intern brings something different to the table. This is true with the CDIP interns. They not only bring a fresh, new perspective, bring their learnings from their college coursework, their hunger to learn about their chosen profession but they bring their life experiences as well. They always feel honored to be chosen to be a part of the City of Hope cohort, but we are the ones who feel honored to have their dedication, drive, and heart! Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are infused into the DNA of City of Hope and the CDIP interns are a large part of that.”

Describe the value or return on investment you received from hosting CDIP interns.

“With City of Hope receiving the distinguished award as one of the top diverse companies by Diversity, Inc., having the partnership with HCC/CDIP and these interns just makes sense and aligns with our mission, vision, values, and culture!”

For more information, visit the HASC Workforce Development page, or contact HASC Workforce Development Program Manager Lisa Mitchell.

Contact:
Lisa R. Mitchell
(213) 538-0722
lmitchell@hasc.org