Aminata Dumbuya ’14 Lands D.C. Public Health Internship through the Davidson Internship Challenge

Senior Aminata Dumbuya spent this summer interning at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) in Washington, D.C., pursuing her interests in the healthcare world. This internship opportunity came from Davidson alumna Michele Jester ‘09 through the Davidson Internship Challenge, a Center for Career Development initiative that connects Davidson students to internships shared with us by alumni, parents, and other members of the Davidson community.  The CCD posted the internship on WildcatLink, where Aminata saw it, applied, interviewed and was selected. Aminata is an English major and president of Delta Sigma Theta chapter, and is also involved with Global Core and the Activities Tax Council at Davidson.

The National Association of Community Health Centers works with more than 22 million patients in over 9,000 locations in the United States to provide them with affordable healthcare in the midst of tough economic times. NACHC allows underserved populations, who typically find healthcare inaccessible, to acquire frequent and high quality care so that health problems are spotted and treated early on. NACHC’s business model of preventative care reduces patients’ needs to take expensive trips to the Emergency Room, and in turn saves money.

Aminata worked in the federal affairs department of NACHC, where she had the opportunity to attend senate and subcommittees’ hearings on public health issues on a weekly basis. Aminata would then write comprehensive memos including the points and topics discussed in the meetings. These memos were sent out internally for the knowledge of the organization, as well as distributed to other public health programs and healthcare centers. Some of Aminata’s work was even sent to Congress! Aminata also worked to interpret bills on public health issues and rewrite them in more casual language for the employees of NACHC to understand.

Aminata loved working for an organization where the staff all worked towards accomplishing one goal: providing good and affordable health care to everyone, regardless of their economic situation.  She called her experience “honest and real,” stating, “I was able to really engage in what I was interested in and actually produce work within the department.”  The experience gave her the chance to learn about the public policy side of public health by exposing her to lobbying and congressional advocacy and ultimately helping her to decide to pursue a Masters in Public Health degree after graduation.

If you have any questions about Aminata’s experience or would like to talk to her about pursuing a career in the public health world, she would be happy to speak with you (amdumbuya@davidson.edu).  If you are interested in the NACHC internship for this summer, start looking for it on WildcatLink starting in early spring 2014.