LHSI Intern: Undiagnosed Rare Disease Clinic (URDC) Intern

Program Summary:  

This internship is offered as a part of the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI). This program connects 125 IUI 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: Ms. Lili Mantcheva

Department/Office: Medicine; Departments of Medicine and Medical & Molecular Genetics (MMGE)

Overview of the internship site: Ending the Diagnostic Odyssey - Clinical/Research on Rare Disease. The Undiagnosed Rare Disease Clinic (URDC) is a program dedicated to resolving the medical mystery of patients who have variety of symptoms and have likely been seen by multiple providers, completed extensive genetic testing, but still have not received conclusive results about their genetic condition. This program is focused mainly on pediatrics, but URDC patients may be of any age, from newborns to those with adult-onset disorders. You will have the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team, who contributes to the clinical and genetic evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of a patients' conditions to uncover the underlying genetic reason for their clinical history.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Duties may include administrative tasks such as chart review, completion and, organization, supporting and maintaining the research database, collecting medical records from outside hospitals, literature reviews about certain genes/conditions, participating in the clinical visits of the patients (opportunity to observe and take part in the patient’s genetic evaluation and/or additional procedure such as a skin biopsy), assisting the coordinator of the research visit with the research consenting process and overall conduct of the visit, and participating in additional supporting projects as needed.

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

Hours per week: flexible based on student needs (10 maximum), scheduling is flexible within regular work hours

Project-specific qualifications: Helpful skills include: 

attention to detail, ability to deal with sensitive patient information,

excellent communication skills, review/summarize the literature, and creativity. Any coursework

related to anthropology public health or social sciences would be very helpful

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 IUI undergraduate

·        minimum overall GPA of 2.0 

·        All majors welcome

To apply:

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