"I'd always been interested in the connections between psychological well-being and physical health, and I feel that I found the perfect internship working with a benefits representative at the Homeless Persons Health Project (HPHP). I was introduced to an amazing group of people at HPHP, especially my mentor and sponsor Ron Dudley. The opportunity for practical experience - working directly with clients in an agency that really changes people's lives - was exactly what I needed in order to connect with a part of the health care field that you can't really learn about in a classroom.

"I still have a great relationship with
my sponsor, Ron Dudley. He will
always be a mentor for me in my
personal and professional life."

"The role of a benefits rep is to assist people with permanent physical and emotional disabilities obtain medical coverage, social security and disability benefits. This was my first exposure to the many local, state, and federal programs set up deal with these kinds of issues. I really realized how many things have to be understood and overcome before a health care professional can actually get down to providing care. Political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental aspects all play a role in how and why a client gets care, what kind of care they get, and where they get it from. I think that is something that most of us don't see very much, but is very important in understanding what we will need to do when we enter the health profession.

"One beautiful characteristic of the HPHP group was that everyone knew that they had to work as a team in order to achieve success. I now realize how valuable that kind of cooperation is for being able to help clients. It's a style of working that I hope to be able to bring to all my jobs in the future.

"The experience also made me reflect on how, as students (and especially students of the hard sciences), we can get caught up in thinking that there is always a "correct" answer and an "incorrect" one, or that things have a specific pathway or process they don't waver from. Sometimes I wish that were the case! The valuable thing I learned from my internship is how important it is to be open and flexible. I feel so fortunate to have been in the presence of a group of professionals who had an arsenal of skills and put them to work using a process that was adapted to each client individually.

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"I wanted to get a sense of what family practice and primary care were all about. I used to work as an acupuncturist and a former patient introduced me to Dr. Halpern. It worked out really well for me, because I was able to get a lot of clinical time. I spent some time learning about the less glamorous business tasks involved in a practice, but the real key to my experience was the direct contact with patients - about a dozen or more a day. That's had a great influence on the direction of my medical education and continued patient care.

"The tremendous diversity of Dr. Halpern's patient base and his way of dealing with each person was an eye opener. This particular practice had Caucasion, Hispanic, Asian, and African American patients; all sexual orientations; age groups from infants to senior citizens; and his practice spanned the whole range of socio-economic groups, from patients on Medi-Cal and Medicare to those with PPO and HMO plans, to wealthy people on private plans. It took a really flexible approach to effectively deal with this range of patients.

"What really struck me was Dr. Halpern's ability to treat each patient as an individual, size them up quickly, but respectfully, and get the information he needed in order to treat them. That combination of clinical and psychological skills is something I hope I can emulate in the future.

 "Those experiences also provided a practical advantage for me in applying for medical school. There's a kind of clinical language that you need to know and use during med school interviews. You can prepare by reading about that in books, but there's no substitute for experiencing it in context and having it drilled in on a daily basis. Medical schools want to see if you are familiar with their language and know about the nuts and bolts of a medical career. After my internship, my medical school interviews felt natural to me.

 "I still keep in close touch with Dr. Halpern. Every time I get back in town, I drop by the office and shadow him, if I can. I feel very fortunate that I've had a chance to learn from him."

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