Summer Internship Program

Arlington Free Clinic’s summer internship program offers a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact while gaining real-world experience in a nonprofit healthcare environment. The 10-week program starts in early June and ends in mid-August. Interns support our mission across a variety of roles, including clinical care, finance, and fundraising. Clinical internships are a great fit for pre-med students, providing hands-on experience in a community health setting. Spanish fluency is required for Clinical Interns so they may communicate directly with patients.

The application process opens January 1 and typically concludes by mid-February. Interviews are conducted in February, and final candidates are notified in mid-March.

The application period for Summer 2025 has closed. Please come back on January 1 to apply for Summer 2026.

This summer, I had the opportunity to be the Women’s Health Intern at AFC. My roles included translating GYN or primary care medical appointments, doing clinic intake, making mammogram reminder/appointment calls, and making 6 flyers about women’s health for GYN patients. My favorite part of internship was translating GYN clinics. I enjoyed meeting the GYN providers and making a difference in a patient’s day. Overtime, the patients started to recognize me, which was amazing.

I also worked with AFC’s ongoing research project with Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown called CONTIGO. They are doing research on how to best educate Latina women on breast and ovarian cancer. At Georgetown, I was able to interview participants and analyze interviews (the data). At AFC, I helped screen patients to recruit them to the study. It was amazing to be able to talk to AFC patients at AFC and through the study. I will be able to contribute to the final paper this fall, which will be incredible!

Being the women’s health intern gave me the opportunity to connect with patients, learn about the direct GYN problems the Hispanic community faces, and improve my public health research skills. A special thank you to Kate N., Kate S., and all the AFC nurses for making this experience possible. I will hold this experience closely as I apply to a masters in public health followed by medical school.

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as a Clinical Intern at AFC, where I was inspired by a team that consistently prioritizes patient care. During my time at the clinic, I engaged in various tasks, such as making phone calls to inform patients about pharmacy closures, upcoming appointments, and testing events. I also created a flier that successfully promoted a Chagas testing event and collaborated with a team to brainstorm and plan a potential nutrition and diabetes education event. It was rewarding to apply the program planning skills I've gained from my Public Health education in a real-world setting. 

One of the highlights of my summer was interpreting for our Move to Health classes. In one memorable class, Virginia Cooperative Extension visited, and I had the opportunity to cook alongside the instructor while interpreting for our participants. This experience, along with interpreting for clinics with providers of various specialties from cardiology to primary care, allowed me to practice and refine my medical Spanish skills. 

I'm incredibly grateful to have been part of AFC's family this summer and to have worked with such amazing mentors who made me feel immediately welcomed. My time at AFC truly affirmed my passion for the medical field and patient care. 

This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to work directly with AFC as the Development and Events Intern. I completed a variety of tasks that deepened my knowledge of the non-profit health sector. I created, organized, and maintainedspreadsheets to track the Annual Benefit Gala, attended weekly staff meetings, promoted community involvement with AFC, and reached out to local businesses to encourage donations. It was such a fantastic experience to see firsthand how much hard work goes into running the Clinic and how impactful AFC is in my hometown community. I worked closely with Naimah Jamal, the Events Manager, and I'm very grateful for her help and mentorship during my time at AFC. The Clinic fosters a tight-knit community of staff, volunteers, and patients, and it was incredibly rewarding to be part of such a dedicated team this summer. 

Expanding my work as a Move to Health Coach by becoming the Move to Health Intern has been an incredible opportunity. As a coach, I already loved the program and all it stood for, but becoming an intern opened my eyes to the countless resources the program has. 

My focus was increasing class participation and organizing the program's resources. I called every patient who had been referred to the program.  This allowed me to understand their individual needs as well as provide valuable insights into how we could enhance the program's impact.  

I'm most proud of my "Advice for Healthy Living" pamphlet that I created for the patients and my "How To" document for the MTH volunteers. I hope the patients can take the lessons from class to their daily lives and that coaches can build on the strong foundation.  

I'm immensely grateful to my remarkable mentors, Irene and Surekha, whose unwavering support and guidance have been instrumental in my internship. Working with patients of different backgrounds and medical conditions allowed me to enhance my cultural competence and medical background. The vibrant and enthusiastic presence of the entire clinic team brightened each day making it fun to come to work every day. I can't wait to get back to AFC and see the MTH program continue to grow! 

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern and work with the women's health department at AFC. One of my tasks was scheduling patients for mammogram appointments at the Virginia Hospital Center. This allowed me to learn more about EPIC (the electronic health record system), the process of performing and analyzing mammograms, and the importance of cancer screenings. I also worked closely with Luisa to schedule and run gynecology clinics. During these clinics I served as an interpreter and was able to form connections with both patients and providers while also improving my Spanish and learning new medical terms. A highlight of my internship was interpreting during our July "Pap-a-thon" that provided pap smears to 22 patients in one clinic. I admire how much love and care AFC staff members show to every patient despite having limited resources and appointments to offer. This experience has broadened my clinical knowledge beyond what I imagined and I am so grateful for all I have learned. AFC is truly a family and I am happy I was able to spend my summer being a part of it. 

I had the pleasure of interning this summer with the Development team at the Arlington Free Clinic. I played a large role with assisting the Annual Benefit Gala which included solicitingauction items, creating an auction catalogue, producing a donor analysis on previous gala’s, creating and posting social media posts, attending weekly staff meetings, and communicating and organizing donor information. This experience has been incredibly rewarding seeing all the hard work being done here for the clinic and its patients. There is a strong sense of community here between the staff, volunteers, donors, and patients by seeing all great things being done for the greater good of Arlington Virginia. Not only did I get to work and see behind the scenes at a non-profit, but I was able to give back to my community as well.

Mateo Cardinale is a lifelong resident of Arlington. He attended Arlington Public Schools and graduated from Arlington Tech. Mateo is a rising sophomore at Virginia Tech, studying Business Information Systems. He enjoys playing baseball, traveling, cooking, and spending time with his family and pets

Maribel Gomez is originally from Guatemala. She is working on getting her Associate's Degree in Nursing through NOVA. She is excited to work as a clinical intern this summer. In her free time, Maribel enjoys spending time with her friends. 

What a privilege it has been to work as part of the AFC team for these past two summers. Words cannot begin to express the overwhelming gratitude I have for the experiences and profound connections I have made. This summer, I was able to expand my knowledge base by continuing the ongoing work of running the Women’s Health Clinic. Whether it be by assisting with intake, interpreting for our patients, or training to be able to access Epic, I was given ample opportunity to see all aspects of the healthcare process and work closely with staff and providers. I was also given the opportunity to contribute to an ongoing study by Georgetown University wherein I made screening calls to determine our female patients’ risk of breast and ovarian cancer, thereby providing them access to free genetic testing to determine risk.

Thank you to my incredibly knowledgeable, intelligent, and compassionate supervisors Luisa and Kennya. I know everything I do because of you two and I could not be more grateful. Thank you also to the rest of the AFC team for making my time here an unforgettable experience. I will miss you all and I can’t wait to see how I’ll use my newfound knowledge in pursuit of my career in medicine!

I’ve had the chance to increase my medical knowledge while working at the Arlington Free Clinic. Serving as an interpreter for the afternoon clinic sessions gave me the opportunity to gain knowledge about some of the issues that AFC clients encounter on a regular basis. The clinic manages to continue giving its patients the love and care they require despite having few resources, which is an amazing feat that I enjoyed being a part of. Not only did I contribute to the clinical side of things, but I also helped with other tasks like calling patients who qualified for certain vaccinations or even skin cancer screenings. Through the phone calls, I also had the chance to educate patients and myself about the benefits of each vaccination and the necessity of getting a skin cancer screening test. I also had to exercise my creative side by making a flyer for the flu shot that would inspire patients to take action to prevent others—and, more importantly, themselves—from contracting the illness. Finally, I recently had the chance to assist in the launch of a “Move Health Program.” The program’s goals are to make exercise enjoyable for patients and to give them nutritional advice on how to maintain good health. Overall, through my involvement with AFC, I have learned a ton about who I want to be and what I want to do in the future. I’ve also enjoyed my time here because the AFC family has adopted me and has shown me love and encouragement to keep working hard in my studies and to never settle for less.

This summer I was given the opportunity to intern with the Development Team to help plan the annual AFC gala. Some of my work has included soliciting items for the gala, helping to create the auction catalogue, and attending gala/staff meetings. I really enjoyed all the work I have done, and I have learned a lot by getting to see the behind-the-scenes work that goes into operating a health non-profit. This has been a very rewarding experience as I know that all the work at the clinic is for such a great cause. There is a very strong sense of community between the staff, patients, and volunteers at the clinic and it has been great to witness this first-hand. This opportunity has been a great way for me to give back to the Arlington community!

This summer at AFC, I was given the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects. I helped coordinate food and rental assistance referrals, facilitated and interpreted virtual and in-person sessions/appointments, researched and organized behavioral health resources, and more. I was also able to shadow Terry, the nurse practitioner, and gain great clinical experience. I loved working with all the patients, staff, and volunteers. AFC performs essential and meaningful work for the Arlington community, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to contribute to this.

This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to learn about what it takes to run a free healthcare clinic. I worked alongside the Director of Finance, Daphne Edwin, on a donated services project where I contacted doctors’ offices to gather millions of dollars worth of donated services and medications in the past year. A free clinic doesn’t functionally run without the services from these various offices and providers. I was tasked with collecting these records to prepare for the annual audit. During this experience, I enhanced my communication skills as I had to call and email providers to gather information. This unique experience expanded my horizons and gave me a glimpse of the non-medical side of the healthcare field. Arlington Free Clinic has strengthened my passion and interest to be in the healthcare field and shown me the benefits of serving local underserved communities.