Southern Plains Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center:
Tribal Epidemiology Center Internship (TECI) Project

SPIEC will contact Oklahoma State Colleges and Universities and National Indian Colleges to actively recruit American Indians into the public health field, and specifically into the areas of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This project will allow SPIEC to offer a two year "Tribal Epidemiology Center Internship" (TECI) for American Indian students pursuing a career in Public Health, specifically in the field of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Through this project, we plan to provide two (2) two-year internships over the five year grant period which will provide a 20 hour-per-week paid Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) position during the two years of Master of Public Health (MPH) or Master of Science (MS) in Public Health coursework at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) College of Public Health (COPH), and a budget for "training and travel" for attendance at professional conferences and other training opportunities.

TECI candidates must be tribal members and have applied for and been accepted by the OUHSC COPH Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (BSE) for admission in Fall 2008 and 2010. The TECI Steering Committee will interview AI/AN student candidates in the Spring of 2008 and 2010, review applications, and select all TECIs. The SPIEC will fund the TEC Interns' stipends for employment for the entire two-year period that they matriculate in the MPH or MS program. TEC Interns will select a COPH mentor to work with through the two year TECI period. TEC Interns will receive mentoring to ensure success throughout their two-year Internships. The SPIEC will work to locate scholarship funds to assist TECIs in paying tuition and fees.

Point of Contact:
Robin Kinnard, DrPH ABD, Project Coordinating Epidemiologist
Phone: 405-951-6005 x100
E-mail: robin.kinnard@ihs.gov