Looking back on this summer, my internship experience with National Jewish Health has been extremely valuable and rewarding. Through coming into the lab every day and working alongside some amazing scientists and doctors, I have come to realize the importance of research with regards health care and the medical world. While the research field isn’t always in the spotlight and its findings can be hard to interpret and understand at times, it truly is crucial to helping ill patients and positively impacting communities that are in need and under resourced when it comes to care. For example, the lab I was working with has been making big strides in understanding the mechanisms of lung injury and repair, as well as brain injury related to explosions. Their findings will contribute heavily to developing new treatments for all kinds of patients, from kids and elderly people, to members of the military and veterans.
In addition, the lab skills and scientific techniques that I have gained and become proficient in are things that I will take with me for the rest of my time at Princeton and beyond. They will definitely contribute to any future research that I do and coursework that I participate in. Like I did this summer, I hope to continue intersecting service work with my academics and have helping others be one of the main motivations for the things that I do.
Finally, through this internship, I have grown a lot as a person, as I now feel comfortable working in a professional environment with new people. While it was intimidating at first, I was able to create some very valuable and genuine relationships with my mentors and coworkers. They truly made each day more enjoyable with random conversations here and there, and they gave me a lot of good advice with regards to both life and school. I plan to stay in touch with the people that I worked with this summer, and hopefully, I can return one day in the future.
Overall, I have really enjoyed my experience this summer as a Bogle fellow and am looking forward to this upcoming semester.
