The Iris-Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Education and Research Center (WHERC) is a non-profit organization providing education on physical, psychological and social issues impacting women's health.
We offer unpaid student internships for undergraduate and graduate students. Interns are accepted year-round depending upon WHERC's needs. There are no requirements for the duration of the internship, number of hours, or schedule. Our office is located in Westwood Village.
Interns work on a variety of education and outreach projects. Examples of the range of activities students may be involved with include:
Because WHERC collaborates with numerous community and government agencies, interns may have the opportunity to meet a variety of women's health leaders as well as attend community health events and participate in conference calls or meetings. For information regarding internships, please contact:
Julie A. Friedman, MPH, CHES
Director, Iris Cantor - UCLA Women's Health Education & Resource Center
1100 Glendon Ave, Suite 800
Los Angeles, CA 90024
P: (310) 794-8062
While Priscilla was a student in the Master’s of Public Health program at the University of Southern California, she interned at the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education & Research Center during the summer of 2019. The internship gave her the opportunity to see the multiple facets of public health, which included public health policy, community outreach, biostatistics, and more. This internship challenged her to work beyond what she had been taught in school.
The multiple projects targeting underserved, low-income women fueled her passion for helping provide resources for individuals who lack accessibility to quality care. During her internship, she assisted in editing manuscripts for publication, conducted basic data analysis, and assisted with grant applications. These experiences equipped her with job skills to enter the public health field. She is grateful for the mentorship provided by the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education & Research Center as the knowledge and experiences she gained interning has proven invaluable in her work today.
Currently, she is the grants and program coordinator at Center for Inherited Blood Disorders (CIBD), located in Orange, CA. CIBD cares for both children and adults with rare inherited blood disorders which include hemophilia and sickle cell disease. She works on projects that focus on managing grants which increase accessibility to comprehensive health care services, strengthen network of knowledgeable providers, and expand data collection to document regional improvements in access, capacity and outcomes for individuals with rare bleeding disorders.
Diana Alfaro graduated with a Bachelors of Arts and Science in Anthropology and Human Biology and Society from UCLA in June 2019. During her senior year, she interned at the Iris Cantor Women's Health and Research Center and worked at a public health clinic. These experiences sparked an interest in pursuing graduate school to obtain a Master’s of Public Health degree. Julie Friedman, encouraged her to apply for the AmeriCorps Program at Central City Neighborhood Partners (CCNP), one of our Center’s community partners. Diana was selected for AmeriCorp and subsequent to completing AmeriCorp, was hired as a coordinator for the CCNP Promotoras program.
CCNP's Promotoras are women leaders who live in the community and have been trained to educate, guide, and refer community residents to resources to support their health and social service needs. They help families navigate complicated systems and gain access to resources and information in linguistically and culturally relevant ways.
For Diana, the most memorable moment as a Promotora Coordinator was seeing the women graduate and how proud they were to have completed this program. The experience has created strong relationships for her within the Pico Union and Westlake neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
