Oakland Students Using 'Life-Changing' Medical Internships To Springboard Into Success

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- When Jorge Ruiz dons his white lab coat and latex gloves and begins his work in the research lab, he has taken a huge step outside of the Fruitvale district where he lives.  As he explains what he is doing, I repeatedly have to ask him to stop and spell it out for me so I can follow.

He spent his summer studying phospholipids - a type of lipid which are components of cell membranes - and ways to use them to try to make an anti-cancer drug more water-soluble. It's pretty sophisticated work for a kid who is just now starting his first year of college at Sonoma State.  "It has opened new doors for me," Jorge said. He wants to major in Biochemistry.

Jorge and Yessenia Reyna were two Students Rising Above who spent the summer as interns with the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI).  There were 47 interns, all of them low-income students and the first in their families to go to college.

Yessenia researched the efficacy of echocardiograms on patients undergoing chemotherapy.  "None of my family members are doctors or anything like that, so I kind of had to rely on secondhand experiences from television or reading about it in books," said Yessenia. "This is the first time I'm actually with doctors, talking with doctors, not as a patient but as a co-worker."

That pretty clearly articulates the importance of the summer internship program for these students.  Co-director, Dr. Ellen Fung saw the students develop over the summer. "They find it life-changing," said Fung. "Many come in without any experience either in a clinical setting or a laboratory setting and their eyes are opening. They are wowed."

But there is a larger goal, in which the students will end up helping society at large. They are diversifying the medical field and its research labs, which will end up making medicine and medical care less intimidating and more accessible for their communities.

Children's Hospital Oakland sits close to West Oakland, known for its poverty and high crime rate. The hospital is surrounded by pockets of low-income communities. "We're wanting to change the dynamics of what's happening in the clinic," said Dr. Fung. "So rather than it be, you go in and see your doctor who is not like you, we want you to be able to see your doctor who looks like you, who's coming from the same background as you."

At a symposium at the end of the summer, the interns exhibited their research with displays and diagrams on the CHORI grounds. The doctor who mentored Jorge stopped by to tell him how important his contribution was.

"It was the greatest experience to have you in the lab! Really awesome," Dr. Bob Ryan told Jorge, with sincere enthusiasm.

"I've learned a lot from you," answered Jorge. "You've shaped my path."

"You've taught ME," replied Dr. Ryan. "You've humbled me, you really showed me the way."

Across the way, Yessenia explained her findings to people who approached her exhibit: data showing that the echocardiograms for patients undergoing chemo may not be as useful as once thought. I would quote her but the words were too big.

That's typical after a summer in CHORI, according to Dr. Fung. "Nine weeks later, they have language they never had before, vocabulary that I didn't expect them to be able to master," said Fung. "So, it's really impressive for them to be able to come from where they were at the beginning of the program and they feel so empowered and changed by the program."

Yessenia's confidence was obvious, as she explained her findings to anyone - doctor or patient - who stepped up to her exhibit. "I was always afraid to talk to professionals. They seemed like big scary people," she said. But the summer at Children's Hospital has changed that. "Talking to them like human beings," she said, referring to doctors and professionals. "I think it's been much easier to talk to them."

This is a huge step for a young person who grew up poor, moved around a lot, but always loved science and medicine.

The CHORI Summer Program is just one of the internships where Lauren Brener places Students Rising Above.

She started pounding the sidewalk as a volunteer in 2007, looking for companies to hire SRA kids as interns.  That developed into a staff position as the Internship Program Manager - a crucial part of the SRA model to help first generation kids rise out of poverty.  Over the past year, 198 Students Rising Above have landed  internships with the help of Brener and/or the career development team.

"I read a study where employers indicated what they looked for primarily was the experience that students had gained through internships," said Brener. "Many times they considered that even more important than their college major or grades, or even where they went to college."

She has found that to be true.  An AP report quoted the Research Director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute, Philip Gardner, as saying an internship experience is "just one of those things you have to have before employers will even consider looking at your resume."

Now consider the Students Rising Above, who are all low-income, most growing up below the poverty line, and often without their parents.  "None of our students have professional parents who can open the kinds of doors for them that can get them jobs," Brener pointed out, describing the challenge that began to arise as SRA scholars would graduate from college but still have difficulty launching careers.

"When you graduate from college, you have to have the right kind of skills, connections, confidence, and professional etiquette to be competitive," explained Brener. So, SRA now works with its scholars teaching them how to write a resume, and cover letter, how interview well, and the nuances of professional etiquette.

For some students coming from impoverished, marginalized communities, it is a whole new language and culture. "So when you're on the job, you know how to conduct yourself with managers and clients, so you're not on the computer checking Facebook," said Brener. "You have to learn what kinds of emails are appropriate. There are just a million things."

Some of the companies that have hired Students Rising are Google, the non-profit 826 Valencia, the Federal Reserve Bank, Wells Fargo, and even the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

These summers have a huge impact on the students. "For some, it confirms a career path," said Brener. "It can turn them onto a new career path. It can change their mind about a career they thought they wanted. They can try it out and learn whether it is something they really want to pursue."

Oh yes, and there's the networking.  "For some of the students just networking is a big thing," said Brener. "A huge percentage of jobs are found through networking."

As Yessenia explained, speaking of CHORI but it applies to SRA as well:  "This program is important for these kinds of kids because these kids come from backgrounds with no one with these kinds of connections in the first place, and I think being in these kinds of programs you can build these kinds of relationships."

Internships change lives, period. As Jorge said, "I'm very determined to be successful and be in a science-related career and to give back to the community and my family."