Bioethics and Decision Sciences

The Meyer-Chabris Lab in Geisinger’s Department of Bioethics and Decision Sciences conducts behavioral science research on beliefs, attitudes, and judgment and decision-making about science, medicine and technology. The lab typically uses vignette and survey experiments, as well as qualitative methods — often, to illuminate ethical or policy aspects of these domains. For example, recent or ongoing research questions include how people evaluate tradeoffs between different features of AI-based predictive models (e.g., accuracy, fairness, explainability); patient and clinician attitudes towards unproven medical treatments; experiment aversion; and public understanding of and attitudes towards social and behavioral genetics and polygenic embryo selection.
The undergraduate intern’s responsibilities may include conducting qualitative interviews, coding qualitative free text data, conducting literature reviews and preparing survey experiment materials. They would also be expected to attend weekly lab meetings and contribute to the brainstorming of new lab projects. There may also be opportunities for the undergraduate intern to assist with data analysis and manuscript preparation and to earn co–authorship.

Cancer Institute

Students integrated with the Cancer Institute are offered a dynamic and impactful summer internship focused on oncology clinical research. Interns will contribute directly to initiatives that expand patient access to new cancer treatment approaches through National Cancer Institute (NCI) clinical trials, while also supporting investigator-initiated research projects that address critical questions in cancer care and outcomes. Students will assist in efforts to improve patient recruitment and retention in clinical trials, with a focus on access for rural populations. Activities may include outreach strategy development, data analysis of recruitment trends, and collaboration with clinical teams to identify barriers to trial participation. Students will be embedded in active research teams working on studies ranging from cancer prevention, symptom control and quality of life, and cancer survivorship. Students may contribute to protocol development, literature reviews, data collection and analysis, and manuscript preparation. Students will have the opportunity to shadow oncology investigators, research coordinators, data managers and administrators, gaining insight into the full spectrum of cancer research operations. At the conclusion of the internship, students will present their summer project and findings to peers and faculty at a research symposium. This position will be hybrid, with in-person activities at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., and remote work components.

Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes

Project 1

The Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes is seeking an undergraduate student with interests in digital health, patient experience and health services research. Working closely with faculty mentors and pharmacy leaders, the student will contribute to a mixed methods research study evaluating patient experiences during patient-pharmacist medication management encounters that utilize ambient documentation technology. The student will gain hands-on experience in practice-based research, mixed methods and healthcare innovation. The experience will culminate in a presentation at the end-of-summer research symposium. This unique opportunity is ideal for students interested in exploring how emerging digital health technologies can enhance healthcare delivery and improve patient experience.

Project 2

The Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes is seeking an undergraduate student with interests in history, sociology, anthropology, public history or related social sciences to help document and preserve the history of pharmacy at Geisinger. Working closely with faculty mentors and pharmacy leaders, the student will conduct archival and historical research, collect and analyze oral histories, and help develop a permanent record of how pharmacy practice, innovation and patient care have evolved within a leading integrated health system as well as the people whose vision and perseverance made it happen. Students will gain hands-on experience in historical inquiry, qualitative research methods and scholarly communication, culminating in a presentation at the summer-end symposium. This unique opportunity is ideal for students interested in healthcare, history, public policy and organizational change.

Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen)

This research program is 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. Since ClinGen is a project in the Department of Developmental Medicine, students can take part in other learning opportunities, including lectures, observations and case conferences. This opportunity may be either hybrid with an in-person component at the Department of Developmental Medicine in Danville, Pa., or fully remote.

Computational Biology Laboratory

Project 1: Cannabinoid-Disease Alignment: AI-Powered Inference of CBD’s Therapeutic Potential

This project uses AI and biomedical databases to evaluate how cannabidiol (CBD) interacts with disease mechanisms at the protein level. Students will assist with literature review, data annotation, and structured query development. Some beginner-level programming may be used, but the focus is on biomedical reasoning and data interpretation. Ideal candidates will have interest in bioinformatics or biomedical research. 

Project 2: Predictive Drug Repurposing: Mapping Protein Targets for Medical Marijuana

This project applies AI and bioinformatics tools to identify drug repurposing opportunities involving cannabinoids. Students will help automate data integration and enhance the Pharmacorank tool using Python. Programming will range from beginner to intermediate level. Ideal candidates will have interest or experience in computational biology, biomedical informatics, and coding. 

Both projects will be in-person at the Medical Sciences Building in Scranton, Pa.

Department of Developmental Medicine

Students will participate in ongoing and novel research projects that align with the Department of Developmental Medicine’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.

Department of Genomic Health

The Department of Genomic Health leverages expertise in implementation science, molecular and functional genomics, bioinformatics, behavioral science and outcomes measurement in a variety of genomics focused research. Students will work with the genomics team, including MDs, PhDs and genetic counselors, to develop a summer project in genomics. Opportunities exist within Geisinger’s research-based population genomic screening program, the MyCode Genomic Screening and Counseling Program, where numerous research and operational projects focus on returning medically actionable results to participants in a biobank. Students will have the option to job shadow genetic counselors. This position will be mostly remote but may require occasional on-site participation.

Department of Genomic Health: T. 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.

Department of Genomic Health; Carruth Lab

Students will be assigned to work on a 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 students upon completion. This position may be remote or hybrid.

Population Health Sciences; Justice Lab

Students will join ongoing projects in genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics and biomedical data science, developing an independent summer research project under faculty mentorship. Research in the Justice Lab leverages large-scale electronic health record (EHR) and biobank data from 230,000 participants to investigate the genetic, clinical and environmental determinants of human health and disease. Current areas of study include cardiometabolic disorders, sleep disorders, medication response and adverse effects, gastrointestinal and vascular diseases, and other complex traits. Major goals of the Justice Lab are to identify genetic and molecular factors that contribute to disease risk and progression, uncover biological pathways underlying disease mechanisms and develop approaches for disease risk prediction and precision medicine. Students will gain experience working with large-scale genomic and health data and may explore topics in statistical genetics, bioinformatics, machine learning or translational population health research. This position can be completed in person, remotely or in a hybrid format.

Department of Population Health Sciences & Department of Urology: Garg Lab

The missions of the Garg Lab are to: 1) design age-friendly, goal-aligned care for older adults with bladder cancer, and 2) enhance urologic care for rural patients. Students will have an opportunity to select from several different projects that could leverage multiple types of research skills. Example projects include adapting a shared decision-making tool for older adults with bladder cancer by analyzing qualitative interview and focus group data, working on a scoping review of shared decision-making in bladder cancer, reviewing electronic health records to assess trends in palliative care use, compiling and analyzing survey-based geriatric assessment data from the urology clinic, or data analysis using large databases like SEER or NHATS. We seek students with strong writing and communication skills, excitement about learning new things, and an interest in improving care for older adults. Statistical and programming skills are a plus. There is also an opportunity for shadowing in the urology clinic and in the operating room for those who are interested. This position is hybrid with 1 to 2 days per week in-person attendance at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.