Research internships
Geisinger Research offers paid and unpaid (for-credit) internships to qualified students pursuing biomedical, behavioral or social science health-related disciplines.
In preparation for either a professional career or further academic studies, Geisinger's research internships provide opportunities to contribute to specific clinical, translational or basic science investigations, hone critical thinking skills, network and explore career choices and specialties. Internships are offered in areas such as obesity, biobanking, biostatistics, epidemiology, genomics and many others.
Join our team
Looking to work in a specific research department? Contact us to find out if they are hiring interns at this time.
Geisinger Clinic Summer Undergraduate Research Program
The Geisinger Clinic Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) provides an exceptional opportunity for undergraduate students to conduct research under the mentorship of our nationally and internationally recognized scientists. This program is designed for undergraduates with a strong background in the sciences who are considering a career in biomedical research. Participants experience the joy of scientific discovery as well as the challenges inherent in scientific research while developing skills in scientific reasoning, research methods and scientific communication through interaction with our research staff.
Internships are available in the following areas:
Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute
Students will participate in ongoing and novel research projects that align with ADMI’s innovative approach to investigating the causes and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders. Research is conducted across a variety of disciplines including genetics, neuroscience, psychology, developmental medicine, and high-performance computing. Opportunities to shadow our clinicians, including psychologists, behavior analysts, genetic counselors, developmental pediatricians, and speech-language pathologists are also provided. This position will be hybrid or remote.
Center for Community Environment and Health (CCEH)
The mission of the CCEH is to understand how the natural, built, and social environments impact health across a range of health outcomes, including diabetes, respiratory disease, and COVID-19. Students will work with CCEH researchers to develop a summer project related to one of the ongoing research projects. They will have the opportunity to participate in multiple aspects of CCEH studies, including participant recruitment, collection of biological samples, medical chart review, and data management. This position will be hybrid, with time split between remote and in-person attendance at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA.
Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes (CPIO)
Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes (CPIO) Students will gain insight into the sciences of implementation, dissemination, health services, and outcomes research. Focus will be on population health pharmacy, medication optimization, adherence, and pharmacy services. Recent past projects included the development of a natural language process to extract marijuana data from the electronic health record, the policy impact of methadone-involved overdoses after opioid treatment program changes, characteristics of prescribed educational resources, and the evaluation of a mail order pricing tool. The expectations are that students will actively participate in the conduct of investigation, bring a positive attitude to the team, and present materials in a summer-end symposium. Outstanding students will have the opportunity to publish research conducted. Those students with interest in data analysis, health services evaluation, qualitative and/or quantitative evaluations are encouraged to apply. This position will be remote.
Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen)
A research program funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute that supports central resources to define the clinical relevance of genes and variants for use in precision medicine and research (clinicalgenome.org). Students will have the opportunity to interact with clinicians, clinical genetic testing laboratory staff, researchers, and genetic counselors from around the world as they support efforts to evaluate gene-disease validity, dosage sensitivity, and/or variant pathogenicity. This opportunity may be either hybrid (with an in-person component at Geisinger Autism & Developmental Institute) or fully remote. Since ClinGen is a project within the ADMI, interns are able to take part in other learning opportunities including lectures from ADMI team, observations, and case conferences. This position will be remote.
Department of Genomic Health
Students will work with the genomics team, including MDs, PhDs, Pharmacists and Genetic Counselors, to develop a summer project in genomics with the option to choose from a variety of research opportunities. Students will have the option to complete some job shadowing of genetic counselors as part of the internship experience. This position will be mostly remote but may require occasional in-person participation.
Department of Genomic Health; Mirshahi Lab
Students will work with scientists using computational approaches and some lab-based techniques to investigate the role of gene expression, cell signaling and genetic variation in health and disease. The research leverages detailed genetic data from over 232,000 clinic patients and their clinical traits from electronic health records (EHR). Current projects incorporate deep learning for image analysis to improve clinical phenotyping, large language models (LLMs) to extract additional insights from EHRs and AI/ML methods to predict clinical outcomes and ways to improve them. Students with a strong computational background are encouraged to apply, as they will contribute to these innovative data-driven approaches. Each student will be assigned a specific project and will provide a summary report at the end of the summer. This position will be 4 days in-person at the Weis Center for Research in Danville, PA and 1 day remote.
Computational Biology Laboratory
Project 1: Innovative Tools for Drug Repurposing: Mapping Protein Targets to Identify New Treatments.
We are developing open tools to identify potential new treatments for diseases based on protein information. These tools focus on mapping proteins to diseases, functions, and medications, helping to identify drugs that could be repurposed for new treatments, including components of medical marijuana. Our project uses advanced algorithms to identify medications and their protein targets, facilitating drug repurposing. We are currently determining conditions where medical marijuana may be beneficial or contraindicated based on its impact on disease mechanisms. This project will receive considerable attention during the fall term as we delineate the diseases affected by marijuana use using further genomic information.
Project 2: Enhancing Protein Model Quality for Advanced Drug Design: A Collaborative Effort with SIB and CASP
We are pioneering advanced methods to assess the quality of three-dimensional protein structural models, which are essential for structure-based drug design and other applications. This project is a collaborative initiative with the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the organizers of the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment. Both Projects will be in-person at the Medical Sciences Building in Scranton, PA.
Department of Genomic Health; Carruth Lab
Students will be assigned to work on a specific project related to heritable cardiovascular disease. Using computational methods, the student will assess genetic data for >230,000 Geisinger patients and associated clinical data from electronic health records. The student may also assist in the processing and analysis of advanced cardiac imaging data, and associate measured features with the presence or absence of qualifying gene variants. An end-of-project report will be provided by the student upon completion. This position may be remote or hybrid.
Population Health Sciences; Justice Lab
Students will be able to choose from a number of on-going studies to develop a summer project in genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics. On-going studies leverage existing data from >176,000 patients to explore the intersection of genetics, other ‘omic biomarkers, environmental exposures, and cardiometabolic diseases and risk factors. Major goals of the Justice Lab team include identifying novel genetic risk factors, understanding biological pathways for disease development and progression, and improving disease prediction for earlier intervention. This position may be in-person, remote or hybrid.
Program eligibility and features:
Students entering their undergraduate Sophomore, Junior and Senior years are eligible to apply.
- Pharmacy students in their first two professional years are encouraged to apply.
- Paid program $11.50/hr., 40 hours per week, Tuesday May 27, 2025 – Friday August 1, 2025
- To the degree possible, students are matched with research programs according to their stated interest and work on projects under the direct supervision of our staff and faculty.
- Students are selected from diverse academic backgrounds.
- Students are responsible for their housing accommodations and transportation for any in-person internships.
- Geisinger does not sponsor OPT for this short-duration summer internship.
- Geisinger does not participate in e-verify
Interested students should submit an electronic application linked here with all attachments included by the required deadline. For questions about this program or the submission process email surp@geisinger.edu. If necessary, letters of reference can be sent directly to our program administrator instead of including them in the application packet, by emailing them directly to surp@geisinger.edu.
Applications will be accepted through January 15, 2025.
(Note: Late submissions/incomplete materials will not be accepted.)