Five Years of Encouraging Future Researchers

Guest Blogger:
Colleen A. Kelly, CCRC, CIM
Manager, Clinical Trials; MHRI Baltimore Cardiology

 Cynthia Lynn Yashinski, BA, CCRC
Clinical Research Coordinator III, Cardiology


This year marks the fifth year of the Baltimore Cardiology EP summer internship program!

It was initiated in 2014, when I (Colleen) was approached by a former colleague about whether our department had a position available for her college-aged son who wanted to pursue a career in medicine. While my department did not have any paid positions available at the time, we explored the MHRI volunteer program. Cynthia had also expressed an interest in mentoring an EP intern. That is when the program was born!

The subsequent year, we met with Shawn McNamara, EdD, MS, RN, Dean, School of Health Professions, Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) about working in collaboration with MHRI to offer a summer position to one of their Allied Health Sciences students since CCBC’s campus is adjacent to Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, MD. So the past 4 years, Baltimore Cardiology has hosted a CCBC student as a summer EP intern.


Our former intern presenting her research as a PhD candidate!

The interns have the chance to learn and observe many different things while they are here, as well as meet researchers, physicians, nurses and representatives from industry. They get to observe patient visits, ablations and device implants, as well as study procedures like device checks, blood draws and lab processing, and data entry. They get to see how we interact with patients, and learn basic clinical skills such as how to take vital signs, perform an EKG, and draw and process blood (using employee volunteers).
They also learn about good clinical practice, HIPAA privacy laws, and the research process from IRB submission to closeout.

We have been fortunate to have selected some outstanding students that have go on to advance their careers in health-related fields. One continued their studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, two have gone on to nursing school, and one entered a PhD program.

Thank you to Dr. Glenn Meininger for his support of this program. We are proud to be able to offer a rich and valuable experience for these young students and help lead them into research! 












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