Internship Program

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for an internship with the Health Department, the applicant must be a registered student receiving internship credit or as a class requirement through a partnering college, university, or educational institution.

School	Expiration Date	Student/Trainee Type
Central Arizona College	05/2024	Community Health Worker Program - providing educational training experiences.
Grand Canyon University	4/14/2026	Health practitioners. Programs include, nursing, nursing and education, public health, and healthcare informatics.
Northern Arizona University	6/30/2026	Student rotation training for nursing & health sciences students, clinical & educational experiences for College of HHS programs, including educational research, learning and public services programs.
Pima Community College	02/16/2026	Clinical and educational training experience for students and future practitioners.
University of Arizona - MAIN	11/14/2022	Students from various colleges, schools, departments and centers for rotation training, and both clinical and non-clinical educational training experiences.
University of Arizona - College of Nursing	11/14/2022	To provide first-hand experience in the nature of public health nursing; become knowledgeable about public health nursing skills, competencies, and responsibilities; and apply theoretical knowledge to actual public health nursing problems.
University of Arizona - Mel Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health	11/14/2022	To experience the nature of community health and public health services. Apply theoretical knowledge to actual public health problems.
University of Arizona - College of Humanities	11/14/2022	To become knowledgeable about operational aspects of various types of public health systems.
University of Arizona - Dietetic Intern Program	11/14/2022	To become knowledgeable about operational aspects of various types of nutritional and dietary systems as well as community nutrition programs.
University of Arizona College of Pharmacy (COP)	9/30/2021	Pharmacy students, future practitioners  (note: research at PCADC).
University of Arizona College of Medicine	8/1/2022	Rotation of post-graduate physicians, classified as residents and fellows from UACOMSC to PC for clinical and educational training experiences.
Walden University	05/19/2022	Graduate public health students - provide clinical and educational training experiences.

 

Internship opportunities may be available within 5 different areas of the department. We recommend you choose the area related to your major or directly related to your career interest.

• Non-focused/General

  • Description: General support offers a unique unpaid internship opportunity to individuals interested in sharing their abilities and talents to support community work in public health. 
  • Potential Activities: General support includes a range of activities that may include attending community events, assist with conducting surveys, provide data entry, conducting topic specific literature reviews, or working on public health projects. 

• Clinical Services

  • Description: Public health clinics provide nursing student interns an opportunity to work with staff in a clinical public health setting.
  • Relevant Degree Programs: Students seeking a degree in epidemiology, bio-statistics, biology, medicine, physiology, nursing, health sciences, pharmacy, or a related health/science field may benefit from interning in this area. 
  • Potential Activities: 
    • Activities for interns could include but are not limited to: health surveillance of communicable diseases, disease reporting, data analysis, developing projects and resources for clinical programs and community outreach for immunizations, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), tuberculosis, oral health and reproductive health. 

• Community Based Health Services

• Community Health Assurance

  • Description: Community Health Assurance provides interns an opportunity to work with staff who are responsible for enforcing regulations that protect the public’s health and for quickly responding to public health emergencies and disasters.
  • Relevant Degree Programs: Students seeking a degree in food safety, food science, microbiology, environmental health, toxicology, industrial hygiene, epidemiology, emergency preparedness, communication, or a related environmental health/science field may benefit from interning in this area.
  • Potential Activities:
    • Activities for interns could include but are not limited to: health surveillance, data analysis, developing projects and resources that promote environmental health or protection, develop public health emergency trainings, and support projects for health inspections. 

• Health Administration

  • Description: Health Administration provides interns an opportunity to work with leadership, management, administration, and support functions of the department. 
  • Relevant Degree Programs: Students seeking a degree in administration, finance, business, health policy, information sciences and technology, communication, occupation safety, technology, media, or a related business/technology field may benefit from interning in this area. 
  • Potential Activities:
    • Activities for interns could include but are not limited to: developing reports, working on grant-related projects, report auditing, reviewing and analyzing current internal processes, performing quality checks, assisting with special projects, developing print/digital media and advertisement, drafting content for social media platforms and website design.

Internship Opportunities

Thank you for your interest to be an intern with the Pima County Health Department!

This section provides information about specific internship opportunities available at the department for students receiving internship credit through an affiliated college, university or educational institution. Internship placement is based on staff capacity and the applicant’s skill set and area(s) of interest.

UPDATE 

The Pima County Health Department has resumed the internship program. Projects will be added to the website as they become available. 

Internships provide students with opportunities to apply their academic and problem-solving skills to real-life work experiences in the field of public health. For students seeking future job opportunities with the county, this experience is invaluable in providing skills and training to effectively compete for positions. This internship program also provides potential opportunities to network with experts in the public health community. In addition, students are given the opportunity to develop a meaningful project in their field of study and receive academic credit for their work.

What Interns Are Saying
"If you're looking to do something positive in the Tucson community, this is the best team you could hope to work with! One of the single greatest benefits to public health was the advent of vaccines. Unfortunately, the recent anti-vaccination trend is jeopardizing the health and safety of many Southern Arizonans. Our team has been working hard to discover some of the reasons why people choose not to receive vaccinations nor vaccinate their children. As someone who was relatively unfamiliar with public health, this project opened my eyes to the challenge our community faces from this threat. I was able to learn an extraordinary amount due to the trust and support of my colleagues on this team. Truly, they valued every suggestion and opinion I had from the very beginning. However, I worked very hard to prove my worth; not only because the caliber of person on this team is very high, but because our community deserves the very best. It has been a truly enlightening experience that I know will enrich the lives of all of us desert-dwellers."- Alec Bennett Perrera. University of Arizona UBRP (Undergraduate Biology Research Program) Graduate, 2017.

• What kind of hours are expected?

  • Hours are scheduled based on the academic requirements, the department's needs and the intern's availability. Workdays are typically Monday through Friday after 8am or before 5pm. Site Preceptors will try their best to accommodate the intern’s preferred work schedule. The department does sponsor and attend some community based activities on weekends and occasionally after business hours, but cannot guarantee night or weekend work.

• Can I intern with the department if I am not in school?

  • No. Internships are only available to undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in a partnering college, university or educational institution.  

• How can my college/university partner with the Health Department?

  • E-mail HDInternship and provide the name of your college or university’s Internship Coordinator, as well as their phone number and email address. We will contact them and inquire about an agreement. Some schools decide not to enter into a partnership with the County and, as a result, students from those institutions are not eligible to participate in the internship program.

• How long are internships?

  • Assignments vary and can range in length from a single academic term to a full academic year. The length of the internship depends upon the agreement made between the site supervisor and the intern. Internships can be as short as 1 month or as long as one year.

• How many interns are normally accepted?

  • The program made its debut in August 2017. A module of the acceptance rate has not yet been created. While the department would like to accommodate all applicants pursuing professional experience in public health, there is limited staffing capacity to do so.

• How are interns selected?

  • Selections are made without regard to considerations of race, creed, color, national origin, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or handicap. Applications are considered in the order in which they were received and are based on staff capacity and the applicant’s area(s) of interest. Preference is given to those majoring in an area closely related to the department’s program services in which they are applying.

• What happens after an internship application is submitted?

  • Completed applications are sent to the best suited staff member(s) for placement. If an experienced/appropriate staff member has the availability to accept an intern, we will contact the applicant and work with him or her to develop a plan and start date. In the event that the department has no experienced/appropriate staff members available to accept an intern, we will let the applicant know within 10-days and keep his or her application on file if any internship opportunities arise.

• If accepted, when can I start?

  • The Site Supervisor for the internship project will work with accepted interns to determine a start date. Students cannot begin their internship until all required paperwork has been reviewed and orientation is complete.

• Will my assignment lead to a job?

  • Employment is not guaranteed. However, all current job listings can be found on Pima County’s Employment Site.

• Do you accept Summer Youth Program interns?

  • Yes. Teens and young adults interested in participating in Pima County’s Summer Youth Program must apply to the program through the Pima County One-Stop Summer Youth Program webpage. Once accepted, the Summer Youth Program Coordinator will provide the intern with a list of available internship work offered by the Pima County Health Department.