Intern Diaries – Adrienne Jaeger ’13

Name:  Adrienne Jaeger
Major:  Psychology
Hometown:  Bath, Maine

This past summer, Adrienne Jaeger was a psychology intern at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, New York.  MSKCC is a research institution and hospital that exclusively treats cancer patients.  She assisted a clinical psychologist with his study exploring the effectiveness of a phone-based therapy intervention for elderly individuals with cancer.

Jaeger listened to recordings of therapy sessions and made sure the therapist followed the manual designed for the studey.  As part of her internship, Jaeger had the privilege to update a chapter entitled “Psychiatric Complications in Cancer Patients” for the American Cancer Society textbook, “Clinical Oncology.”  Additionally, she shadowed psychiatrists on their daily rounds, and attended seminars designed for instructing the psychiatric fellows.

“Everyone I worked with at MSKCC was helpful, supportive and wanted me to get the most out of my summer internship experience,” said Jaeger.

The internship was paid and she lived in NYU housing, although it was not provided by MSKCC.

The internship proved instrumental for Jaeger as it solidified her future goals and aspirations.

“My experience working and shadowing at MSKCC confirmed that I want to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner,” she reflected.

Her advisor, Professor Kathy Low encouraged her to look into interning at MSKCC because there is a Bates alum, Howard Scher, that works there as an oncologist.  Karen Daigler of the BCDC helped put Jaeger in contact with Howard who is very interested in getting more Bates students involved at the hospital.

Overall, Jaeger would recommend the internship to any student interested in entering the medical or mental health fields.  “I would definitely work for MSKCC full-time if I got the opportunity.  It is a highly respected institution that treats its employees well.”