Shaiza Bushra's Internship Experiences: From Classifying Injury Severity to Improving Stroke Care in Developing Countries

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 8, 2022) - Shaiza Bushra is a Master of Public Health (MPH) student who moved to the United States from Pakistan in 2019. She will be graduating with her MPH in Public Health Practice this August, achieving her goal to complete her graduate degree in the United States.

“Coming from a country like Pakistan – which is rich in talent, skills, and aptitude, yet still hundreds of young individuals do not find enough opportunities to shine bright, I feel myself lucky to have had the opportunity to work hard and get rewarded,” says Bushra. “I can’t believe my dream to have an MPH is just one step closer to becoming a reality!”

Bushra recently completed an internship with the Bureau of Occupational Health and Injury Prevention at the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), where she worked with the National Survey of Children’s Health to examine adverse childhood experiences in New York and nationwide. This experience helped her gain hands-on knowledge in data analysis, data visualization, and epidemiological skills.

“My mentor motivated me to participate in the School of Public Health’s Annual Student Poster Day competition, as well, and it was a great opportunity that helped to further develop my professional skills,” Bushra says.

For the summer, Bushra has stayed on as an intern at the Bureau, and is now using pre-existing surveillance motor vehicle data and hospital data to characterize and classify vehicle-related Injury Severity Scale (ISS) scores in New York, which give a number value from 1 to 75 for an injury based on severity. The project also involves comparing ISS scores with the scoring system commonly used by on-site law enforcement to characterize injury dynamics and examining the association between specific types and degrees of injuries and the factors that contribute to motor vehicle crashes.

“The best part of this internship is that I have grown as a data analyst and have started to think out of the box. I’ve begun to observe situations from a different and broader perspective than just being a student who works hard to earn good grades,” says Bushra. “Internships are a great way to build connections and expand networks, and I love all of my mentors and grateful to them for helping me grow and for giving me independence to come up with new ideas.”

Bushra also worked with CDPHP as a Cardiac Rehabilitation Intern, where she assisted with outreach activities to facilitate referrals for a virtual cardiac rehabilitation program. “I connected with more than one hundred CDPHP members discharged from the facility shortly after their cardiac procedures,” says Bushra. “It was very fulfilling to play such an instrumental role in helping the members make informed decisions and adopt a heart healthy routine by enrolling into the rehabilitation program as per the recommendation of the American Heart Association.”

Bushra is also informally interning with Health Systems Quality, a small-scale company founded by one of her former mentors at CDPHP that aims to improve the quality of healthcare delivery systems around the world.

“I have been engaged in one of the ongoing projects improving emergency stroke care in developing countries,” Bushra explains. “My role is to support outreach activities to raise funds and look for worldwide funding and high-impact organizations open to supporting fellowship training of neurologists in Ethiopia. The goal is to increase access to surgical thrombectomy and quality stroke care.”

Bushra is excited about the possibilities of where her career may take her once she graduates with her MPH. She is particularly interested in working with vulnerable communities, and hopes to contribute to the integration of analytics and communication into program development, evaluation, and public health surveillance and preparedness to make data easily obtainable and comprehensible -- especially during unprecedented situations.

“I want to earn sufficient experience so I can move closer to my long-term goal, which is to work with UNICEF or CDC,” says Bushra. “I know it’s a long shot – but there is no harm in dreaming, right?”