Field Placement: Department of Health & Human Services, Health Resources & Services Administration branch -- HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB)
Location: Rockville, MD
Preceptors: Sylvia Trent-Adams
Student Name: Adesuwa Ogiamien, MA
Year: 2002

This summer, I worked on two projects with the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) in the Health Resources & Services Administration branch of the Department of Health & Human Services, located in Rockville, MD. My internship lasted for ten forty-hour weeks, from June 10, 2002 to August 16, 2002 for a total of 400 hours. One was called the Data Consolidation Project and the other was the Qualitative Analysis of the Title III EIS Satisfaction Survey. I had two mentors, one for each project.

For the Data project, I visited the State Medicaid Office to determine the way in which they set up their own fiscal data system and to see if the HAB system could be modeled after their system. This project involved the collection of fiscal data from all relevant sources within the agency to identify the salient information needed to create a single database that houses all pertinent financial information as it relates to the Title program grantees. This was for all the Ryan White Care Act Title programs.

The Survey project afforded me the opportunity to evaluate the performance of the Title III program office. I visited sites that received Title III Early Intervention Services funding in order to observe the administration of care to individuals that have tested positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) test. The purpose of this project was to provide the Title III Early Intervention Services Project Officers and Team Leaders with an analysis of how well they were doing from the perspective of the grantees and which areas of the Title III EIS program needed improvement. I used the information to create a double-sided brochure that was presented to senior-level staff and handed out at the national RWCA conference that was held at the end of the summer. It was presented to all the grantees and they were assured that the noted areas for improvement would be addressed in the future.

In addition, I went to several computer training sessions, some of them to the advanced level, to learn how to use computer applications in my profession. I also visited the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention branch office, the Food & Drug Administration office and Capitol Hill for professional development as part of my internship. My preceptor insisted that I do those things for my own benefit. Overall, I had a great experience with HRSA and I would recommend that future students consider applying to do work with them. All interns were given very nice offices and were treated as employees with all due professional respect.

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