Internships Provide Good Preparation for a Health Care Career

You wouldn”t think of working in the labs of a major pharmaceutical firm as the kind of job where you”d get your hands dirty. Not in the literal sense.

But that”s how University of Wisconsin-Madison student Amanda Herzog refers to her experience last summer at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago.

“I don”t really think you can figure out what you want to do in life by reading a book or by hearing about it from someone else. I think you have to get your hands dirty,” says Herzog, a senior majoring in biochemistry in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

For Herzog, the 12-week internship provided a unique opportunity to take an insider”s look at the global healthcare industry.

At Abbott Laboratories, Herzog worked in quality assurance conducting a risk analysis of the overall production of many of Abbott”s pharmaceutical products. Her project put her in contact with nearly every division at Abbott, and she was continually impressed with the care Abbott employees showed not only to their work, but also to helping her.

“Everyone was excited to work there, which made me excited to come into work, to learn. People were really there to help me with my educational goals,” says Herzog.

A native of Franksville, Wis., Herzog first applied for the internship during her sophomore year, but was not selected. Instead, she spent that summer at the A. I. DuPont Children”s Hospital in Wilmington, Del. interning with a surgeon specializing in ear, nose, and throat disorders. Then the following fall, at the CALS annual career fair, she reapplied at Abbott.

“I was really hopeful I would get a callback [this time] since I knew that now I had a lot more experience under my belt,” says Herzog. This time, Abbott offered her the position of quality assurance intern.

Herzog”s experience at Abbott helped to solidify her career goals. While she had originally intended to pursue a career in pharmacy, Herzog now wants to be more directly involved in the medical field.

“There”s a whole process to treating a patient, from diagnosing the problem to treatment. As a pharmacist, I was at the end of the process and [the doctors] had already done the cool problem solving. I wanted to be more involved with the diagnostic process,” says Herzog.

Although she does not plan to work at a large company like Abbott, Herzog says her internship experience has been very helpful. “I came out knowing a lot more about the process of making pharmaceuticals and the structure of a global healthcare company like Abbott,” says Herzog. “If I didn”t want to go to medical school, I would definitely be coming back to Abbott.”