Mark Back, MPH’15 knew when he graduated from the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health that he would like to stay engaged with the program. At Indiana Donor Network, where he serves as the Manager of Marketing and Communications, he has done just that. For the past three semesters, his department has worked with current students through their internship program.
Most recently, he has worked with Emily Muller, a student in the MPH/MHA Dual Degree program who will graduate in December 2021. Emily serves as an Assistant Marketing Coordinator at Indiana Donor Network. Below, Mark and Emily share experiences and lessons they have learned at the Indiana Donor Network.
“How did you and Emily begin working together?”
Mark: We hire interns in many of the 16 departments at Indiana Donor Network. The department I manage normally onboards interns for the summer event season, when they help with public outreach and communication. This has not been a typical year, of course, but our interns who are not managing events are still doing valuable work with the team. They certainly help manage responsibilities, that due to capacity, our team wouldn’t have a chance to do.
How did you learn about the internship, Emily?
Emily: I learned about the internship when I graduated from the University of Kentucky in May of 2019, right before I became a Fairbanks student. I applied for this position over LinkedIn, and when I completed the interview process, I realized how passionate I was about the mission. It was such an incredible opportunity that I chose to move once I got accepted into the MHA/MPH program.
Emily, what were the expectations for the internship? And how are those different from the experience?
Emily: I didn’t know what to expect as an intern since I had already completed my bachelor’s degree. I wasn’t sure what responsibilities I would be given, but I was hopeful that it would be more than past internships. I knew I would be doing tabling events, activations, and helping with our foundation events. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much autonomy I’ve had. I’ve been able to voice my opinion on what projects I am working on. I’ve appreciated how much trust the team has had in me.
Mark, what were your expectations in managing an intern, and how has that been different?
Mark: We operate at a very fast pace here. Our expectation for any new hire, including interns, is for that person to be a self-starter. We know that interns will need leadership and guidance, but we also need someone who takes initiative in their work. Emily helps catch things that even our full-time professionals sometimes do not catch, and that’s been very helpful for our team.
How have you had to adjust the internship during COVID-19 and the need to work in a remote environment?
Mark: Internal communication was vital during this time, and our team connected electronically quite a bit during the early stages of the pandemic. I encourage my team to over-communicate under normal circumstances: If you feel like you are sending too many emails about a project, send one more. When we started teleworking, this became even more important. In terms of the internship program, we canceled most of our events. So, we shifted our hiring process internship program timeline from a summer experience to a fall experience. We also shifted their responsibilities from event support to copywriting, project coordination, and other tasks. Our careers page on our webpage lists all of the internships that are available now.
Emily: I was nervous about going remote. A huge part of my position is to work on our events, and we weren’t doing that for months on end. I was nervous that I would lose connections or even the internship, but the Indiana Donor Network team is very collaborative. While it has been difficult being apart, we have shifted to planning for future events and accomplishing a number of projects that we have long dreamed about now that the team had time to accomplish those projects.
What has occurred at the Indiana Donor Network throughout the pandemic that you are both proud of?
Emily: Our mission is always at the forefront of everything we do; it guides everything. We are always asking if something fits into our guiding principles, and if it doesn’t, we adjust. I think that’s special because many organizations say that, but we take the time to prioritize it at Indiana Donor Network. Our clinical teams have made sure that donation and transplantation doesn’t suffer during the pandemic. It is life changing work, and in July we had a record month of organs transplanted.
Mark: Before the pandemic started, our senior leadership had a vision to start doing organ recovery at our headquarters as opposed to in hospital operating rooms. At that point, we thought we were still more than a year away from making that a reality. Because of the pandemic, and the strain it was placing on hospitals, our organization compressed the timeline for that initiative to a matter of weeks. We opened the Indiana Donor Network Organ and Tissue Recovery Center, complete with ICU and surgical suite, here at our headquarters in May. It required the collaboration of every single department in our organization, and I was proud that our team could be a part of that.
Final question, how did your time as a student help you manage this current situation?
Emily: The management and strategic skills I have learned through the MHA program have impacted my confidence. I know that if I am assigned a project, I can do it well, and I can manage my time correctly and the program set me up for that. The rigor of the program and the expectations of the faculty have aided me. The public health program has helped me understand the social determinants of health. Having the base knowledge has helped me serve all populations of registered and unregistered organ donors. It has been vital to understanding all populations.
Mark: I’ve relied on my education to help me in my leadership role. The policy education I received at Fairbanks has been an easy transition and application to communications. A lot of the same issues and pitfalls in health policy nationwide come down to communication. Having the baseline knowledge and a good understanding of the health care system, and how different communities relate to the healthcare system, has given me a rock-solid foundation to rely on.
Mark and Emily encourage students never to pass up an opportunity and actively look for ways to get outside of their comfort zone. Both feel that growth occurs when individuals step out of their comfort zone. Learn more about the MPH and MHA programs on fsph.iupui.edu!
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