Current student, Parisa Arastu, shared the following about being a Summer Intern at MGH …
What did you do as an intern at this organization?
This summer, I worked as a research assistant at the Laboratory for Translational Neurorecovery within the Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The mission of the lab is to transform the stroke recovery process by using an interdisciplinary approach to investigate and understand the neural mechanisms behind successful stroke recovery. I gained exposure to many facets of clinical research such as study design, participant interaction, and data analysis.
How did you find this internship?
I learned about this opportunity through a graduate student I work with in a research lab at Tufts.
What did you enjoy most about your internship?
The most enjoyable part of this experience was the opportunity to observe these concepts from the lens of Human Factors Engineering by evaluating the medical devices used and tested with this research. This enabled me to broaden my professional horizons within my discipline and think about what is most important to me in a future career.
What did you find challenging?
It was a challenge at first to be candid with my supervisor with what projects I wanted to work on. I had to learn to communicate with my supervisor to get the most out of my internship, and I was so grateful my supervisor was flexible enough to encourage an open dialogue about this with me.
What advice would you offer to someone who wants to make the most of an internship like yours?
The best piece of advice was actually given to me by my supervisor: Try everything! Push yourself outside of your comfort zone to take full advantage of the new opportunities and people you’re surrounded by.
