In the summer of 2016, Florida A&M MPH candidate Artaveya Ingram completed her internship at the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center (SOWEGA-AHEC) in Albany, Georgia. At SOWEGA-AHEC, Artaveya was involved with Pathway to Med School, a program designed to encourage pre-med students to pursue a medical career in primary care and return to rural areas as providers. She also worked on the Migrant & Farmworker Family Health Program, which brings interprofessional teams of health care providers from cities into rural communities to provide health care to underserved migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families.

Atraveya explained in her field placement application that she would be an ideal fit for the SOWEGA-AHEC position because she has a “proven ability to build a bond with individuals from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.” One of Atraveya’s goals for the field placement was to strengthen her communication skills, and by the end of the field placement, Artaveya reported she felt very confident facilitating communication among individuals, groups and organizations. She explains, “I was able to speak professionally to the other interns about public health issues going on throughout the world and have very profound conversations. Interning for the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center has impacted my personal development a lot.”

Atraveya has since graduated from Florida A & M, and today she works as a Research Scientist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in upstate New York.