Final Reflection

Reflecting on my time in New York City, I see three different internship experiences. The first of which I spent in the Pediatric Mood and Anxiety Disorders laboratory, studying with a post-doctoral neuroimaging student. This month-long experience informed and guided my academic interests, helping me better understand the world of research at medical institution. The laboratory environment was tough, competitive, but ultimately, cut-throat. Each grant was a battle and each publication was a shaky step forward. Getting your name on the publication was all that mattered and somehow the clinical focus had been lost. I was repulsed by the tension and frustration that was so present in the lab and quite surprised by the lack of collaboration. When the post-doctoral student announced her move to clinical trials, I couldn’t help but question my future. A career in clinical psychology would require me to invest a significant amount of my time in research. Would I be able to endure what she could not? Better question. How could I possibly know that now? Though I was unable to learn functional magnetic resonance imaging in this month, I learned a great deal about the logistics of conducting research.

After a month with this laboratory, I switched to work in the Pediatric Food Allergy and Immunology Lab. This experience allowed me to work in the Jaffe Food Allergy Clinic with the lab coordinator. Together, we spoke to families in the clinic and introduced a complimentary psychiatric adult and child screening. These assessments allowed us to develop a better understanding of the mental health issues that pervade the psychosocial environment. After each screening, I analyzed the results, spoke the families, and potentially introduced the idea of meeting with the psychiatrist to discuss strategies and tips to better manage anxiety. I shadowed the psychiatrist at each of these visits. Beyond the clinical aspect, I was able to pursue my own research in this laboratory. I was thrilled by the great mentorship the lab had. After reviewing the literature, I decided to examine the relationship between child autonomy and parental anxiety in the food allergic population. In doing so, I used retrospective analyses to assess the correlation. I gained experience in reviewing data, cleaning data, running analyses, and determining significance. After discussing my results with the director of the laboratory, I am currently working on writing an abstract to submit to an allergy conference. Moving forward, I will continue to collaborate with this lab and hope to attend psychological conferences with their team in the coming year.

Lastly, I spent most of my time at Mount Sinai working with a developmental pediatrician in her Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Follow-Up clinic. In this environment, I also worked with a social worker and occupational therapist. After studying the manual thoroughly, I developed the skills to administer developmental testing to her patients. For young patients, I spent my time observing her neurodevelopmental assessments. Beyond my time with her in the NICU Follow-Up clinic, I worked with her in the Seaver Autism Center. I shadowed her for each of her patient evaluations, and subsequently, reviewed her notes to formally write her evaluations. Working with children directly was my favorite part of my internship. I look forward to applying the skills I developed in my developmental research in the Infant Cognition Project this coming fall.