Fellowships aren’t the only pathway to employment through the Career Pathways in Public Health Laboratory Science: An APHL-CDC Initiative. Internships can prove to be a fast track to the laboratory workforce as well.

A recent example is Amy Millard who was a student at the University of Iowa studying chemistry and criminology. She was looking to start her last semester in June 2025 when she saw the Career Pathways in Public Health Laboratory Science Internship Program listed on Handshake, the university’s job board. Millard didn’t realize that the process for applying for the internship would ultimately land her a job at the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa.

From left: Mentor and Support Services Supervisor Haley Peden, Fellow Amy Millard, and Mentor and Support Services Director Sherri Marine. Photo: State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa.

“I just graduated this past December and I was doing the internship. I started last June, during my senior year and it got extended all the way through December. I was able to start right after graduation,” Millard said.

While her area of study was chemistry, Millard’s internship was concentrated on the courier system for the laboratory.

“The laboratory brings in shipments from 99 counties and [the internship] was looking at making the system more efficient, reducing costs and seeing which clients use the system most often,” Millard said.

She added that while it was different and not necessarily using her chemistry background, the internship offered a way to see the whole scope of the laboratory.

“I got to present findings to different managers and people running the laboratory. We brainstormed solutions using the data I was able to collect from shipping logs. It was tedious, but it was fun to see the laboratory in that way,” Millard said.

Transition Period

During her internship, Millard’s mentors gave her the opportunity to shadow scientists in the laboratory. 

“It was there that someone put it in my ear that some positions might be coming open in the next few months,” she said. “So I thought I might as well throw my name in. My mentors, Sherry Marine and Haley Peden, were references for me in that application process. It was great to have their support.”

While she does not work with her mentors anymore, she appreciates the encouragement and support they offered when she applied for the position. Millard’s internship was separate from most staff and her main contacts were her mentors. Her shadowing in the laboratory departments gave her the only exposure to the laboratory staff.

“You see people, especially people you job shadowed, and it’s really fun to meet them again and now actually work with them,” Millard said.

Adjusting to the New Role

Millard is now an environmental laboratory analyst in the radiochemistry department of the Iowa laboratory.

“It’s exciting for me since chemistry is my passion. Shifting towards that is exciting and fun,” Millard said.

Her laboratory tests environmental and food samples for contaminants and different isotopes that might be negatively impacting water in surrounding areas.

“The US Food and Drug Administration has a program where they constantly have food shipped to our laboratory and we’re one of the sites that does the food testing. For example, right now we’re testing lunch meat for contaminants,” Millard said.

Millard added that around the time of the Super Bowl, the laboratory received food samples from the concession stands that would be sold at the game.

The radiochemistry laboratory will be a challenge since Millard said that subject was not talked about during her undergraduate studies. While she says she is still adjusting to her new role, she said the laboratory promotes a radiochemistry certificate program.

“The program is through (The University of) Iowa and it is three semesters. I’ll definitely be interested in that,” Millard said.

“I have a lot to learn, but it’s still exciting and I still feel I can contribute. I also come with all the shipping knowledge and courier information. It is fun to be at the forefront of that. Now I’m the one doing these tests for these clients. So, it’s exciting.”