Supporting Tomorrow’s Professionals

Student Internship Program

To further its mission of educating the next generation of public health and health providers in Delaware while promoting a “health in all policies” approach to public health, the Academy/DPHA accepts student interns at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels on a rolling basis throughout the year Students of different backgrounds and interests are invited to apply to the program and discover the role public health plays in the Delaware Community https://delamed org/programs/student-internship/ During their internship, students research a public health topic of their choice, and create a program to fill a need within that topic Nine interns finished their programs in 2021:

Kelly Boyle

Graduate Student, University of Delaware Racial Disparities in CVD

Natalie Gildea

High School Student, Archmere Academy Mental Health in Healthcare Workers

Danielle Cooper, MPH-c

Graduate Student, University of Arizona Medical Respite Program for Homeless Individuals

Julia Pascucci

Undergraduate Student, University of Delaware COVID-19 Vaccination in Parents

Graciela Rayome

Graduate Student, University of Delaware Biden School of Public Policy Health Care Workforce Initiative

Parker Vakili

Undergraduate Student, Duke University Mental Health and Social Media

Sarah Wells,

Undergraduate Student, University of Delaware Infant Mortality & Prematurity

Elizabeth Stoecker

High School Student, Appoquinimink High School Eating Disorders

Taylor Waltemire

High School Student, Appoquinimink High School Asthma/Allergies in High School

Student Financial Aid

The Academy’s Student Financial Aid program was established in 1961 to help encourage Delaware students to study medicine and dentistry To date, over 300 students have received close to $2 million in loans While the Academy has funds to support both medical and dental students, we have only received applications from medical students for the past several years Funds are made available through endowments established by doctors, dentists, and other benefactors The Delaware Academy of Medicine has six separate funds specifically for the purpose of issuing student loans The program is self-sustaining in that the loans are given based on the amount of money collected annually from the students after they graduate Any student interested in applying for a loan can submit an application to the Academy by May 15th of each year To be eligible, students must be Delaware residents enrolled in medicine or dentistry at an accredited graduate school The Delaware Academy of Medicine approved loans for four Delaware students studying medicine in 2021 Of the four students, three are enrolled at Sidney Kimmel Medical College and 1 at the University of Pittsburgh We are continuing the work to convert the financial apparatus of the SFA program to an electronic platforml This platform will allow students to make updates to their contact information, make payments, and see real time loan repayment status We also hope to see Delaware dental students apply to the program We are also keeping a close eye on the economy With costs and insurance rates increasing, the Delaware Academy of Medicine will continue to work to keep our rates low

Zach Bopp

A third-year medical student at SKMC at Thomas Jefferson University on clinical rotations at ChristianaCare Currently interested in emergency medicine (EM) or combined EM-IM (internal medicine) His scholarly interest is in population health and has been working on a research project assessing ED utilization of language assistance for patients with limited English proficiency He is transitioning this to a quality improvement initiative where he will implement a training module for ED staff on the proper use of interpreters For this project, he received second place at an oral presentation competition at the AAEM22 national conference and recently presented it at the Jefferson Disparities summit In his free time, you can find him playing club soccer against other graduate programs or exploring new restaurants with family and friends

Kayla Morrell

Kayla attended the University of Delaware with a major in biology and minor in anthropology and is now a third-year student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University She just recently started her clinical rotations with the Branch Campus Program at Christiana Hospital after finishing up a gap year, in which she worked on a project with Nemours Hospital to develop a health education program for elementary-aged students and helped her husband open a second franchise location of The Tutoring Center After graduation, Kayla plans to stay local and go into pediatrics

Alissa Werzen

After graduating from the University of Delaware, Alissa attended medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA She pursued medicine-pediatrics residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in Baltimore, MD Alissa found herself drawn to Infectious Diseases (ID) cases throughout residency, so she stayed at UMMC to complete fellowship training in ID (during the middle of the pandemic) She also served as a chief resident for patient safety and quality improvement Alissa is currently in her first year as an attending at Jefferson New Jersey and live in Philadelphia, PA with her husband (a Delaware native)