LHSI Intern: National Spina Bifida Patient Registry Study Research Assistant

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: Jason Woodward, MD, MS 

Department/Office: Riley Hospital for Children; Pediatrics - Developmental Medicine 

Overview of the internship site: The CDC's National Spina Bifida Patient Registry Research (NSBPR) study was created to collect standardized data and monitor longitudinal outcomes across the lifespan for individuals with spina bifida at multidisciplinary spina bifida clinics across the United States to determine the most effective health care delivery practices and improve outcomes for children and adults with spina bifida. 

 Dr. Woodward is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Developmental Medicine and director of the multidisciplinary Spina Bifida Clinic at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Spina bifida (SB) is a birth defect of the spinal cord in which the neural tube fails to close during embryonic development. The malformation results in neurological deficits and multiple complex chronic conditions, and requires life long care from multiple medical specialties. Dr. Woodward has interest in improving health outcomes for children and adults with SB through standardized, evidence based clinical care.  

Multidisciplinary spina bifida clinics aim to improve outcomes for individuals with SB through expert, standardize clinical care delivered through a coordinated, team approach. A standardized set of clinical data is collected at annual clinic visits in the multidisciplinary spina bifida clinic at Riley. Dr. Woodward's research team develops protocols for collection of clinical data and extraction of previous surgeries and other medical history data from the electronic health record in a standardization manner at annual clinic visits. For patients attending the clinic who chose to enroll in the study, data that is collected by clinical staff, surveys, or patient interview or is extracted from the electronic health record. This data is then entered into a REDCap database, and then deidentified and sent to the CDC national spina bifida registry REDCap database. This data is then available to researchers to propose various research studies and allows for comparison of outcomes of specific health care interventions or models of care for individuals with spina bifida across multiple multidisciplinary clinic sites across the United States. 

Website for more information: https://www.cdc.gov/spina-bifida/programs/index.html 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: The research coordinator is typically responsible for consenting and enrolling new clinic patients into the study, assisting with data collection in clinic, extracting data variables from the electronic health record, and entering data into the research database ( REDCap). The research coordinator also works with Dr. Woodward to assist with meeting institutional review board requirements and collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other participating multidisciplinary clinics to meet data quality and other reporting requirements. 

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in an office setting with dress code: some of work done in clinical setting, dress code business casual 

Project-specific qualifications: Some basic database skills are helpful. 

Hours per week: 10; Clinic on Tuesdays. Likely meetings on Thursday. Flexible 

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.