Name: Willa Sippel
Class Year: 2024
Major: Health, Science, and Society
Hometown: Northampton, MA
Internship Organization: Institute for Medicaid Innovation
Job Title: Research and Communications Intern
Location: Washington, D.C.
What's happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
At IMI, I am working with the whole team on comms and research to help build their reach and data. I am working on compiling data on state Medicaid plans and benefits to contribute to their mission.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied because I am interested in the public health policy sphere and wanted to get experience in this world in practice.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I learned how to speak healthcare. I say that, because entering that world there's a whole different kind of jargon that is used. At the first conference I attended, I didn't understand a word of what people were talking about. As the summer went on, I became more literate in the Medicaid world. This is not only helping me navigate my own healthcare, but it is also making me more able to understand the structural flaws and successes of the U.S. healthcare system and how they impact people I love and will one day work with.
What is most rewarding about your internship?
I've found the most rewarding part to be two-fold. One is when I was there, I was building connections on the ground in D.C. with people I could learn from. The other part was now at school, I am using what I learned in that internship in my everyday life and career. The healthcare system is incredibly complex, so I was excited to build on my skills and knowledge of Medicaid to inform my work in the future.