Name: Rachel Dopico
Class Year: 2026
Major: History
Minors: Health Studies and Environmental Studies
Hometown: Miami, FL
Internship Organization: American Public Health Association
Internship Title: Climate, Health, & Equity Intern
Location: Washington, DC
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
I am working in the Climate, Health, and Equity Center at the American Public Health Association (APHA). I am working on multiple projects and collaborating with different staff members within our center, as well as collaborating with the other interns on a general project. My main project has been on the qualitative side, utilizing survey data to research how APHA can help our Affiliate organizations (the state public health associations within our network) build their climate capacity. Climate change is a significant public health issue and impacts like worsening extreme heat are examples of why we should all be invested in policy solutions because we are all affected. Other projects I am working on include making a social media about heat preparedness, crafting fact sheets surrounding extreme heat, and helping plan a future food equity webinar. On a day-to-day basis, I have lots of opportunities to work independently on these projects but am also often meeting with people in the Climate Center, APHA partners, or fellow interns to collaborate. Since APHA is in DC, I have also capitalized upon the many opportunities to learn and network in the public health field.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I really wanted to get a feel for what working in the public health field was like, and use this summer to gage whether DC is the city I want to move to and work in/attend graduate school in. I can affirmatively say that this experience has more than confirmed that I would like to come back here after graduating Bryn Mawr! I also wanted to experience working in a large nonprofit, more traditional office environment, since last summer I worked in a small grassroots nonprofit in my hometown, Miami. A huge number of public health jobs are in the nonprofit sector, and working at APHA helped give me the perspective of what that work might look like. At school, I love taking Health Studies courses, and while I love them, they don’t exactly reflect the public health field, so it was important for me to use this summer to explore the world of public health and figure out if I want to pursue a Master of Public Health one day.
Was there anything special about how you found this internship?
I spent a lot of time researching exclusively DC-specific public health opportunities, since I knew I wanted to live here this summer and try out the city. While it is a really competitive season to be in DC, it has been more than worth the hard work of searching and applying for internships and is so fun to be around so many other students!
What has been your favorite part of this internship?
My favorite part by far has been making connections- with the other APHA interns (we have a cohort of 10 this summer), Climate Center/other APHA staff, and all the other people I have met this summer! I have found DC to be incredibly welcoming to interns, and it has been wonderful to meet an amalgam of people, many of whom discovered the city as interns too, who moved back to pursue their passions. There is truly always something happening in DC, whether events at the museums, webinars and networking meetups, and more in the city. I have also enjoyed the flexibility APHA gives interns to work on projects that are exciting to them and actively participate and engage in opportunities within the organization. It is really meaningful to feel like you are doing “real work” that allows you to contribute and to walk away from the internship with a well-developed perspective of whether this type of work is for you and a chance to hone your skills.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
My work this summer has both built upon some of the skills I had and shown me an entirely new dimension of work. Namely, working so closely with data has been quite novel and different! I can’t say that I would have previously considered myself more than competent enough at Excel, but it has been bizarrely satisfying to work on a research project this summer. I think having a clear and complete understanding of why I am doing the quantitative work and where the data is going- and most importantly, that it will have actual benefits- has helped me wrap my head around it. One major skill that I had more experience with, of distilling complex information into simpler terms, has been very useful in developing public health materials that go to the general public. I have also utilized and built upon existing research and writing skills to create these materials. These skills are important to me because they will be essential in finishing my undergrad education and in eventually working in the public health field one day, where a massive component is data/statistics and disseminating information.
Career & Civic Engagement Center History Health Studies Environmental Studies