LHSI Intern: Effects of Gendered Racism on Black Women's Health

Program Summary:    

This internship is offered as a part of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI). This program connects 125 IU Indianapolis undergraduates per year with internships on campus with faculty and staff in a variety of health and science related campus areas/programs. All LHSI internships start in August 2025 and end in May 2026 and are paid $13/hour for up to 10 hours per week. Work-study is accepted but not required.  

Supervisor: Dr. Tiffany Williams 

Department/Office: Medicine; Psychiatry 

Overview of the internship site: My lab conducts research that focus on the effects of health disparities (e.g., gendered racism, racial stress) that contribute to Black women’s mental (e.g., trauma) and physical health (e.g., pain). I am new to IU and I am rapidly developing my research lab here. My research centers on investigating Black women’s experiences of gendered racial microaggressions or racism, the stress or trauma that these experiences generate, and the effects these experiences have on mental conditions (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder) or physical health manifestations (e.g., endorsement of pain). The work I conduct tends to involve survey research, semi-structured interviews, or focus groups. 

Website for more information: https://twill278.wixsite.com/drtiffanyrwilliams 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Research assistants may be involved in (a) research-related activities: literature searches, survey or interview protocol development, data screening, cleaning, or, management, using research software (e.g., SPSS or NVivo) to conduct data analyses, writing manuscripts for peer-review journals or book chapters, presenting papers or poster presentations at conferences or invited talks, or program development; and in (b) administrative tasks: contacting or scheduling study participants, organizing study participant data, developing research recruitment flyers or other research materials, recruiting study participants, or interviewing or facilitating focus groups. 

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily an office setting; with dress code Business Casual 

Project-specific qualifications: Technical skills needed to work in my research lab include familiarity with Microsoft Office products (e.g., Word, Excel, etc.), Zoom or Microsoft Teams, common operating systems (e.g., laptops, desktops, tablets, etc.), and the ability to learn how to use research software. Professional skills needed are the ability to actively listen, demonstrate good communication, have pleasant interpersonal presence, ability to challenge own internal biases, and capacity to take other people’s perspectives. Personality traits that align well the work I do include having empathy, cultural sensitivity and humility, non-judgmental and affirming attitude, and compassion and care. Research assistants will be working with people from marginalized populations who have chronic mental or physical health problems, and so, they must feel comfortable working with these populations. 

Hours per week: 10; flexible within regular work hours 

By the end of the LHSI program, you will: 

Carefully consider, explore, and articulate your career goals, including an analysis of how you arrived at that path and what steps you need to take next. (Community Contributor, Communicator) 

Understand your role and strengths on a professional team and analyze who you would like to become as a professional. (Communicator) 

Gain and strengthen skills relevant to next steps after graduation, such as communication, collaboration, teamwork, analysis/synthesis/evaluation, independence, confronting/challenging failure, problem-solving and perseverance, and constructive criticism. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Convey ideas and knowledge effectively through an ePortfolio and presentation of your internship work. (Problem Solver, Communicator) 

Set and meet your own additional learning goals identified with your supervisor. 

LHSI Qualifications    

must be graduating May 2027 or after (usually a current freshman or sophomore in Spring 2025)   

Current full time IU Indianapolis undergraduate in 2025-26  

minimum overall GPA of 2.0   

All majors welcome 

To apply: 

LHSI accepts 125 interns per year. All available sites are listed in Handshake and will start with the position title “LHSI Intern.” Complete the application for LHSI at go.iu.edu/lhsi and list 3-4 internship sites on that application. You will meet with at least 2 of these if selected for interviews.