LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Sixteen Rider University students recently spent three weeks on the Helene Fuld Campus of the Capital Health System in Trenton, NJ completing an internship component of their biological and chemical science curriculum at the University.

Each student had the opportunity to make rounds through several different hospital departments, including the emergency room, operating room, and clinic. The students also provided assistance in the mobile intensive care unit, and observed procedures of disease detection at the molecular and cellular level in the pathology lab.

In addition, students benefited from two new features of the hospital internship program this year: a rotation in the obstetrics/gynecology department and a first-hand look at health care administration at work.

The following students (with hometown, class year, and, and major) participated in the program:

Students participating in the Helene Fuld internship are usually sophomores or juniors completing their core curriculum in biology, chemistry, or other science-based major offered by the University. Dr. Jim Riggs, associate professor of biology at Rider and internship coordinator, says that the internship program is a starting point for a career in medicine for many students.

"It's a great experience for them to see what real life medicine is really like," said Riggs. "It helps them decide whether they want to pursue medicine as a career. Most come out of the internship really pumped up and excited about medicine.

"The feedback from the sponsors has also been positive. Everyone has been very generous and helpful. Our sponsors note that they have benefited from the students being there as much as the students benefited from them."

The students were required to keep a diary of their daily experiences. They also wrote a research paper and read a book discussing one physician's perspective of medicine to receive the two credits offered by Rider for completing the internship.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre main campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The University offers 60 undergraduate programs and 17 graduate programs in the Colleges of Business Administration; Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences; Continuing Studies; and Westminster Choir College.