Careers

Description:

The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) is currently accepting applications for the 2021 National Environmental Public Health Internship Program (NEPHIP). NEHA has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch for the past 5 years to support public health department internships for environmental health students through NEPHIP. The program connects highly qualified environmental health students and high performing state, tribal, local, or territorial (STLT) public health departments with the purpose of exposing environmental health students to the important mission and work of STLT public health departments.
 
NEPHIP is offered exclusively to students enrolled in an environmental health program accredited through the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC).

The application period will close on January 22, 2021. 

NEHA has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch for the past five years to support state, tribal, and local public health department internships for environmental health (EH) students through the National Environmental Public Health Internship Program (NEPHIP). The aim of NEPHIP is to encourage environmental health students to consider careers at local, state, or tribal environmental public health departments following graduation. Through this internship program, students will be exposed to exciting career opportunities, benefits, and challenges of working with environmental public health agencies throughout the U.S. The program connects highly qualified EH students and high performing state, tribal, local, or territorial (STLT) public health departments with the purpose of:

1. Exposing EH students to the important mission and work of STLT public health departments;

2. Presenting students with career opportunities and encouragement to consider working at a public health department;

3. Providing STLT public health departments with, at no cost, a qualified intern who is eager to gain field experience and contribute to the department’s work;

4. Increasing awareness of EHAC accredited programs and the value of working with and hiring their students and graduates.

NEHA administers the National Environmental Public Health Internship Program (NEPHIP) and is supported by cooperative agreement CDC-RFA-OT18-1802.

Enrolled, junior or senior undergraduate and graduate students at EHACaccredited environmental health academic programs are encouraged to apply for the environmental health internships at state, local or tribal health departments. This valuable experience will allow students to gain a firsthand perspective on day-to-day responsibilities and make professional connections with those working in the field. In addition to being a currently enrolled environmental health major in an EHAC-accredited environmental health academic program, students applying for an internship through NEPHIP must meet the following criteria: Student must be a junior, senior, or graduate status at the time of the application submission and during the internship. Must have at least one full year of academic training with most courses in environmental health. Students who have graduated are not eligible. Have an overall minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 2.8 on a scale of 4.0 with a minimum GPA of 3.0 in environmental health coursework Provide an essay answering the following questions (max 350 words for each): 1) Describe your understanding of the purpose and mission of a state, tribal, or local environmental public health program and why you are interested in working for a health department/agency. 2) Describe briefly an en vironmental health issue or problem you are passionate about solving and explain your solution to fix it Submit a current resume Submit an unofficial transcript from all educational institutions attended. Personal Identifying Information such as SSN, Student ID numbers, addresses, and DOB must be blocked out on unofficial transcript before submission Have a letter of recommendation submitted on his/her behalf by an environmental health faculty member of the EHAC-accredited college or university Have active health insurance and is capable of performing various environmental health tasks, some of which may be physically challenging Selected students will also be given a background check prior to relocating to their prospective host health departments. Most host health departments require a background check to be conducted for interns and volunteers. To expedite this process NEHA will this prior to the students arrival Note: Application materials will be shared with potential host health

Application Information

This application is open to environmental health students and public health agencies (STLT). Students who apply must be enrolled in environmental health academic programs accredited through the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC). Selected students will receive a base stipend of $6,000 ($600 per week) for undergraduate and $8000 ($800 per week) for graduate students to complete a 10-week internship. 

NEHA’s role in NEPHIP is to:

• Solicits applications from eligible environmental health departments and selects locations based on established application criteria. 
• Solicits applications from eligible environmental health students and selects interns based on established application criteria. 
• NEHA staff will match the selected interns with the environmental health departments based on geolocation preferences, interests, and professional goals that align with opportunities at the health department. (Note. NEHA cannot guarantee placement base on previous mentioned criteria.) 

Please contact programs@neha.org, rtariq@neha.org, or akeenan@neha.org with any questions or concerns.