Ryan Landi's Public Health Blog

Ryan is originally from Rockford, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Augustana College (Rock Island, IL) in 2009. He is a third year dual degree Master of Public Health (MPH) in Policy and Master of Health Administration (MHA) student. He has completed internships with TRICARE Management Activity in San Diego, CA and the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health Care System (ICVAHCS) and is continuing to work on the University of Iowa’s Emergency Preparedness Plan with the State Hygienic Lab. The past couple years, Ryan has served as president of the environmental group, ECO Hawk, which he helped form with other College of Public Health (CPH) students in the fall of '09. He also served as the VP of Professional Development on the Iowa Student Association of Healthcare Leaders (ISAHL). As a GRA for the MPH program, Ryan will meet with prospective students and keep them updated with current MPH events via Twitter and Facebook and can be followed on his blog located on the CPH’s website.

This student blog is unedited and does not necessarily reflect the views of the College of Public Health or the University of Iowa.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

VA Internship :)

Started my first day at my internship today at the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Iowa City! I hit the ground running with an 8:00AM meeting with administration and toured the hospital and got oriented to the new work environment. I'll be working with an alumni of our program (MHA) in the College of Public Health and with the Associate Director of Operations (i.e. COO) of the VA Medical Center. Everyone is very energetic and willing to answer questions, in which I had a lot being my first day and will probably be the case throughout the summer.

Learning the structure and how the VA works is definitely a task in itself, but it helped me respect and realize how much is offered through the Department of Veteran Affairs. If you ever have a moment, I would highly encourage you to look (www.va.gov). No matter the health system, new place of employment or just starting out grad school, you should always spend time getting to know how the structure or governance operates and functions. These become important when working with others, how decisions are made and when you might need to request funds for a project.

To wrap up this up with some more advice and just things I have learned thus far on my journey through life, I would have to say that "First Impressions are Lasting Impressions", this is true most of the time and the VA certainly made a great impression on me and I hope I gave the same back :)

Ryan

Posted by Ryan Landi at 6:27 PM
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