Visiting Graduate Student

Internship Overview

This internship provides an introduction to clinical research in radiation oncology and medical physics. The intern will learn about human-subject protections, HIPAA requirements, research compliance, clinical data management, and the role of informatics in radiation oncology. They will also have opportunities to observe clinical medical physics practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Participate in departmental orientation, onboarding, and clinical tours.
• Collaborate with the project team to establish internship milestones and objectives.
• Expand and refine an existing clinical data repository.
• Collect, review, organize, and maintain detailed research data.
• Support data-quality checks and documentation.
• Refined anonymization and de-identification methods.
• Aid in preparing approved data sets for sharing with research collaborators.
• Contribute to the implementation and evaluation of an informatics data-management system.
• Support clinical evaluation activities involving the research system and data repository.
• Develop recommendations and a roadmap for future data-collection efforts and research projects.
• Follow all applicable requirements related to HIPAA, human-subject protections, research compliance, and institutional data-security standards.

Anticipated Internship Timeline

• Week 1: Complete onboarding and clinical orientation; discuss internship milestones and objectives.
• Weeks 2–4: Further develop the existing data repository and prepare it for data collection.
• Weeks 5–6: Refine anonymization and de-identification methods.
• Weeks 7–12: Perform data collection and make necessary process and repository refinements.
• Week 13: Develop a roadmap for future data-collection activities and research projects.
• Week 14: Prepare approved data for sharing under an established data-sharing agreement and assist with clinical evaluation activities involving the research system.

Learning Objectives

• Explain the importance of human-subject protections, HIPAA, research compliance, and responsible clinical data management.
• Identify common challenges associated with clinical research data collection.
• Collect, organize, anonymize, and prepare research data for approved sharing.
• Describe the technical and informatics systems used in radiation oncology.
• Discuss the roles of medical physicists and information technology professionals in radiation oncology.
• Explain how structured clinical data can support quality improvement and future research.

Systems Access

• Based on assigned responsibilities and institutional approval, the intern may receive access to:
• Institutional email
• Electronic health record systems
• Research and compliance platforms
• Approved clinical data-management systems

All access will be limited to the minimum necessary for the intern’s responsibilities and will require completion of applicable training and compliance requirements.