LHSI Intern: Developmental Medicine Clinical 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: Dr. Asna Asrar 

Department/Office: Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children; Division of Developmental Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics 

Overview of the internship site: You can participate in two different clinical research projects that involvement community engagement – (1) one of which involves working with community partner Indiana Family to Family to create and assess a video that families can watch before interdisciplinary developmental evaluations and (2) another project which involves a collaboration with the Immigrant Welcome Center to make more culturally-grounded patient education materials for Haitian and Burmese immigrants. 

You will have the opportunity to help with at least two different research projects while working with Dr. Asrar, all to improve patient care in developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine. 

(1) The video project uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. It will help with improving patient care in the interdisciplinary LEND clinic, which includes full-day developmental evaluations with an interdisciplinary team involving a pediatrician, psychologist, speech-language pathologist, social worker, and/or dentist. LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities) is a training program that helps to create leaders in development and disability service, with this interdisciplinary clinic being an important part of that training program. First, the research team will conduct qualitative focus groups and collaborate with a local community organization called Indiana Family to Family to create the optimal video for families to watch before their child’s evaluations. Once the video is made, that video will be sent to caregivers before future evaluations, and the caregivers will assess if the video was helpful in providing information about the evaluation process and purpose.

(2) The patient education materials project focuses on improving the cultural validity of patient education materials (videos and handouts) for Haitian and Burmese immigrants. This project is a collaboration with the Immigrant Welcome Center involving qualitative focus groups and interviews to gather information about perceptions regarding development, disability, and accessing healthcare. That information gathered will be used to improve diagnosis-specific videos and handouts for Haitian and Burmese immigrants. This project is the beginning of a collaboration with the Immigrant Welcome Center that will lead to future research projects.

Some work can be done remotely while other work will be on-site at the Pediatric Care Center or the Immigrant Welcome Center.

Website for more information:  

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Tasks may include, but are not limited to, conducting literature reviews, data entry and management, recruitment and consenting participants, qualitative data transcription and coding, quantitative data analysis, and experience with scientific writing. 

Work Environment and Dress Code: The work is performed primarily in an office setting with dress code: Business Casual when on-site 

Project-specific qualifications: 

• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work in a team
• Motivation to learn
• Cultural sensitivity and humility
• Flexibility
• Curious and open to new ideas and perspectives
• Some interest in pediatrics, development, behavior, interdisciplinary collaboration, and/or qualitative research methods is preferred.

Hours per week: flexible based on student needs (10 maximum); 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.