R&E Intern Portfolio

Hear from our interns and take a look at some of their work done in the field of Public Health and Health Education!

Alexia Tran

Take a Look at Alexia's Work Here!

What I like most about VN CARES is how everyone here is extremely supportive and encouraging. My skills in areas such as public speaking, research, and graphics making have all greatly improved since I have been here because of the people around me who are always open to helping me, giving me feedback, and training me to be the best I can be. I think VN CARES overall has taught me a lot, not just in a clinical or public health setting, but in life as well, and I am grateful for the experiences that continue to teach me so much.

The project I am most proud of is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month video. This video was the very first educational video we made for VN CARES, and I am really proud of how it turned out. The process of creating and editing the video was very difficult and I faced many challenges while making it, but I learned a lot from this project and now teach other interns how to create videos similar to this one. Overall, I am proud that I am able to combine my two interests: video editing and public health, into a project that can help others and educate the community!


Trish Tran

Take a Look at Trish's Work Here!

VN CARES is a dynamic organization built on the principles of community and service. Through my training experience, the R&E leaders have all allowed me to self critique and constantly challenge myself to analyze deeply and efficiently. I have been able to assess scientific articles effectively, create aesthetically engaging and convincing presentations that appeal to my audience, and also create a voice that speaks and advocates passionately and respectfully. All of these skills I have acquired and want to continue to pass on, along with other skills that I have learned on my own and will learn.

I am most proud of my newly acquired position as Patient Assistance Co- Director. My work in VN CARES has always been meaningful for my community, but I am excited to have magnified the extent of my impact through this position. I am proud to help uninsured and underinsured patients obtain the medications that they desperately need, but aren’t able to provide for themselves. This makes my work more impactful since I am bridging the gap between affordable healthcare and patients’ of disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds.


Janine Nguyen

Take a Look at Janine's Work Here!

VN CARES has helped me connect more deeply with the Vietnamese community and expand my knowledge on medical Vietnamese; it has enriched my college experience and has encouraged me to pursue a career focused in public health law and policy making. In my involvement in the R&E internship, I have been directly involved and participated in multiple committees, including Patient Advocate Committee, Play for Thought, Health Resources Committee, Creative and Banquet Committee, and Health Fair committee, in addition to co-leading the Relay for Life team with Thuy-Linh Tran, to raise funds for cancer awareness and research in 2020. There is a demonstrated need in the state of California to provide support to marginalized, underserved communities in order to relieve health disparities. Altogether, I am humbled to have been able to serve this organization in the three to four years of my college career at UC Davis, and I hope to continue my efforts to provide aid and promote health education to narrow existing educational gaps post-graduation.

As part of Mental Health Awareness month, I was in charge of facilitating the event for Mental Health for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities; for the daytime event, resources created by SAFE and VN CARES were shared on the Mental Health Initiative’s Instagram story, which cover the intersections of mental health among AAPI communities. For the evening event, which was called the Mental Health x AAPI Communities Professional Panel, VN CARES presented on the intersections of mental health, specifically pertaining to the underserved, Vietnamese community to kickoff the evening event. I, alongside my co-VICE advisor, Thao, presented on this topic before transitioning to the panel discussion via Zoom with Dr. Tatum Phan, Dr. William Chen, and Karolyn Wong on the intersection of AAPI identity and mental health. In exploring topics such as intergenerational stigma, sociocultural values and expectations, generational gaps, and lack of mental health resources, we touched on how the rise in AAPI hate crimes and the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the AAPI community.


Mikenzie Ta

Take A Look at Mikenzie's Work Here!

VN CARES has given me the opportunity to develop my knowledge of a broad spectrum of health topics and how to effectively communicate this to the public. Not only has this internship improved my professional skills in the healthcare field, but I have found myself surrounded by the most motivated and amazing individuals who have similar goals to me during my time at UC Davis! 

The project I’m most proud of is my first solo presentation after joining VN CARES “The Sun and Our Skin.” It was amazing to see the progress I was able to make from the presentation I had created for my application into VN CARES to the one after only one quarter of guidance under VN CARES. I was able to showcase all that I had learned in such a short amount of time, and was excited to continue to grow my skill sets with this internship.


Van Tran

Take a Look at Van's Work Here!

VN CARES provides various opportunities while keeping a relaxing space for everyone to interact with one another. I like that VN CARES allows me to help the people in my community and help myself. I am able to improve my knowledge and skills and use it to contribute to society. I like that VN CARES is not just about giving because at the end of the day, I am taking home memories, lessons, and experiences.

Recently, I became a VICE advisor and held a workshop over the summer. This project was my proudest work because I was able to share Vietnamese culture to my peers through music. Although I was busy over the summer, I was really exhilarated while working on the presentation.


Ammy Le

Take A Look at Ammy's Work Here!

What I like the most about VN Cares is how supportive the community is. Everyone understands the pressure of being a Pre-Med student, and because of that, people can relate to one another on a deeper level. Additionally, VN Cares has allowed me to step outside my comfort zone by working on my public speaking and research skills. That has always been a struggle of mine and VN Cares has given me the opportunity to consistently push myself forward. Being able to engage in insightful conversations with my peers to work on a presentation has helped my communication and teamwork skills as I learn to give feedback as well as take the feedback given respectfully. These abilities altogether have made me improve my position in a public health setting, and I strive to continuously work on these skills and so on.