The Vermont and Granite State (New Hampshire) chapters of Physicians for a National Health Program are once again offering five-week, full-time internships for at least nine students during the summer of 2026. Accepted medical students and students of other health professions will each receive a stipend of $1,500.
The primary goal of the internship is to cultivate leaders who will fuse a solid understanding of health policy with the basic values of kindness and human decency so that they can transform the U.S. health care system to better serve the needs of all.
The schedule will be June 15 through July 17, with some orientation time possible before the first day. The schedule changes each year, depending on the academic calendars of the interns selected.
If you are passionate about achieving a publicly-funded universal health care system, but the size of the stipend prohibits you from applying, please contact bjkellermd@gmail.com.
Our video-conference format has:
- allowed interns from across the country to participate when they might not have been able to be away from family and other responsibilities for five weeks;
- allowed a broader range of eminent guest speakers and discussion leaders from medicine, industry, and government;
- minimized our carbon footprint; and
- eliminated commuting time for interns, allowing more topics to be covered.
Our core faculty includes Marvin Malek, M.D., M.P.H. and Ken Dolkart, M.D. teaching history and policy; and Betty Keller, M.D., managing the leadership and advocacy curriculum. Depending on availability, our guests include physicians such as Ed Weisbart, Walter Tsou, Susan Rogers, Phil Verhoef, Steffie Woolhandler, and David Himmelstein, as well as guests drawn from:
- CEOs and leaders of health institutions, CMS and other government programs, VA Medical Centers, community programs for the underserved, and physicians’ unions;
- Experts in international health;
- Specialists in government relations and lobbying
- Investigative journalists, and
- Activists supportive of and opposing single-payer reform.
The internship highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the health systems and programs we study, providing honest, balanced discussion of the strengths and limitations of single payer, social insurance, and multi-payer systems—as well as state-level reforms and other major topics included in the curriculum.
There are three components to the internship:
1. READINGS/DIDACTIC AND DISCUSSION SESSIONS ON HEALTH POLICY
Our primary aim is to give the student a solid foundation in current health policy. The material builds on itself with readings, recordings, presentations, and discussions. The first two to three weeks begin with:
- The history of the U.S. multi-payer system, including reform efforts at both the national and state levels.
- The hodge-podge tactics for delivering and financing health care in the United States; our reliance on federal funding; and the obstacles to state-based reform.
- The effectiveness of both demand-side reforms (Medicaid, Medicare, Obamacare) and supply-side reforms (community health centers, Veterans Administration, Indian Health Service, etc.).
- “Market failures” encountered when attempting to apply market forces to the health sector.
- Advantages and shortcomings of various reform models:
- HMOs and managed care
- High-deductible plans and health savings accounts
- Universal reforms, including single-payer reform
- Cost-control strategies, including:
- ACO/HMO structures and bundled payments
- Global budgeting for hospitals
- Approaches toward reducing the cost of pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and equipment
- Current sources of waste in the U.S. health care system
- The relationship between reform and planning of the health care infrastructure and health information systems.
- The business model of U.S. private insurers.
- Disparities in the delivery of medical services and in outcomes in different U.S. communities and populations.
During the third week, we discuss how other countries address the challenges of ensuring access to health care for their residents and controlling costs for sustainability. Guests from Canada describe their health care system and interns have the opportunity to get answers to their questions directly from Canadians. Interns also select countries they will study and present to their peers in the fourth week.
During the final week, interns will delve into the business model of the pharmaceutical industry, including research priorities, marketing strategies, and factors that lead to extravagant drug prices. They will also present their final project, which is typically a “Single Payer 101” presentation that they plan to give to their classmates and incoming medical students at their schools in the fall, but an intern can propose another topic to the faculty for approval.
Because the pharmaceutical component can stand alone, students who are not available that last week may either work only four weeks and receive 80% of the stipend, or may study it independently during the week prior to the start of the internship, and give their final presentation before they complete the internship.
In addition to health policy, training in leadership and advocacy skills is distributed across the five weeks.
This educational component will include a substantial reading and audio-visual media curriculum.
2. VIDEO CONFERENCE MEETINGS WITH THOUGHT LEADERS FROM GOVERNMENT; THE PRIVATE SECTOR; AND SAFETY NET AND OTHER HEALTH INSTITUTIONS, AS WELL AS DISCUSSIONS WITH ACTIVISTS
Interns will hear from physicians and other professionals working in community health centers, free clinics, a concierge practice, and a Veterans Administration facility, as well as current or former hospital and insurance administrators and other private sector leaders. Interns will also meet with advocates on various sides of the health reform effort and with health sector leaders within state government.
3. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, ORGANIZING SKILLS, AND STRATEGIES TO FOSTER PUBLIC EDUCATION
- Didactic sessions and workshops will be adjusted to meet the goals of the interns and can include strategies for working with traditional and social media; using local cable access TV or radio for education and advocacy; giving legislative testimony; writing letters to the editor and op-eds; and organizing peers/developing SNaHP chapters.
- Interns are encouraged to develop an outreach/education plan directed at fellow medical students and other health professions students.
- All interns gain public speaking experience with the presentation of their two projects.
Interns are responsible for completing two projects during the internship. Preceptors must approve the project choice, and must approve whether they work with partners or a small group, if requested.
- The first is a presentation on the health care system of another country. Other options for a topic may be considered, if the topic fits in the goals of the curriculum. Each intern will present their work to preceptors and other interns around the third week of the internship. We anticipate that interns will want to give their presentations to peers or the public in the fall. They generally work in teams of two or three, with the experience of presenting as a team during the internship, and will later be able to present independently with the slide set they have developed.
- The second project is a “Single Payer 101” presentation intended for an audience of the intern’s choice (e.g. peers, religious congregations, business associations, the general public, etc.). Each intern will give their presentation to preceptors and other interns in the fourth or last week of the internship, and again to their preferred audience in the fall. Alternative projects may be considered, especially if a PNHP member already gives a SP 101 talk at the intern’s school, another intern from the same school is giving that SP 101 talk, or they have an advocacy skill to share with the public.
REQUIREMENTS
Electronics: All interns will need their own computer and access to a broadband internet connection permitting participation by both video and audio. Some preceptors and guest speakers are discouraged by a computer screen half-filled with black boxes, so plan to have your video on.
This is a full-time program, with interns accountable to the program Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but scheduled videoconference time will generally be 3 to 6 hours per workday. Occasionally, a speaker may not be able to meet until after 5:00 p.m. EDT.
Interns should think of the program as being as rigorous as a graduate program, with reading and projects that may require working evenings or weekends, but any weekend events would be optional. As with a graduate-level seminar, attendance includes active participation in discussions.
The skills listed in the application are not prerequisites for this internship. They are asked merely to have an idea of where our interns are starting from, which interns might be of help to each other, and which skill instruction may be desired in our curriculum.
ELIGIBILITY
Students from any medical school or other health professions school are eligible to apply, as well as students in Master of Public Health, Master of Health Administration, pharmacy, nursing, or other relevant programs.. Students accepted to medical school, to start in the fall of 2026, are especially encouraged to apply.
APPLICATIONS
If you have a resume, please review the application, fill out the first section, then be sure to also include other sections that are not in your resume.
Please submit the application via this Google form and send a cover letter, and your resume if you have one, to:
- Betty Keller, M.D., bjkellermd@gmail.com AND
- Marvin Malek, M.D., mmalek66@gmail.com AND
- Jane Katz Field, M.D., jane.katz.field@gmail.com
On the application, for education and work experience that is on your resume, you may simply state “see resume.”
We typically don’t start interviewing until after December 28. You can send your application without naming your references to expedite, and send that information by email afterwards, as soon as you can.
We will interview by telephone or video conference. Ideally, each intern is interviewed by two preceptors.
We look forward to meeting and working with students from the classes of 2029 and 2030!
PRECEPTORS, NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Betty Keller, M.D., President, Vermont PNHP
bjkellermd@gmail.com
Marvin Malek, M.D., M.P.H., Past President, Vermont PNHP
mmalek66@gmail.com
Ken Dolkart, M.D., Granite State PNHP
kenneth.dolkart@gmail.com
Jane Katz Field, M.D., Vice President, Vermont PNHP
jane.katz.field@gmail.com
STUDENT TESTIMONIAL
Medical student India Claflin describes her experience as an intern with the PNHP Northern New England 2021 summer internship program.
