CMAP Launches Summer Internship Program

Over the summer, the Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy (CMAP) welcomed three Johns Hopkins undergraduate students to the inaugural year of their Summer Internship Program. The student interns spent their time completing research projects, writing policy memos, developing content for CMAP’s communications channels, and taking part in professional development and social activities.

From a pool of over 60 applicants, Neeraj Kadubandi, Yvette Shu, and YuTing Situ were selected for the 10-week, full-time program. During the application process, Kadubandi, Shu, and Situ, were matched with CMAP faculty based on their research interests and skills. They spent roughly half of their time working with their research mentors on existing qualitative and mixed-methods projects, completing literature reviews, coding transcripts and interviews, and developing databases.

Kadubandi, a rising senior and Public Health Studies major, worked with Danielle German, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH) on a project to characterize motivators of drug use. “Getting to hear people’s stories was really unique. [Dr. German]’s participatory approach—where participants themselves contribute to dissemination—was really cool to be introduced to,” said Kadubandi.

“This was the first time I worked with really big datasets. It was daunting at first, but those are fundamental skills I’ll need later in my career,” said Situ, a rising senior and Public Health Studies and Psychology major, when asked to reflect on her research work with Sachini Bandara, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor at BSPH and Director of Training at CMAP. Situ coded data from sources like the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS) to create a database of state-level covariates which can be incorporated into future studies.

Timing of the internship coincided with the passing of the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Act, colloquially called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” This presented CMAP interns with an opportunity to summarize the potential impacts on mental health and addiction services. The student interns wrote policy memos, which were then shared with the CMAP leadership team. This followed the interns’ earlier policy memo efforts when they were asked to summarize mental health parity insurance policies to inform potential collaborations between the center and state insurance commissions. “The policy memos were definitely my favorite part of the internship . . . they pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I learned so much I didn’t know before,” stated Situ.

When not working on research projects or policy memos, the student interns worked with Center Coordinator, Samantha Rosenberg, MPH, on special projects related to CMAP’s communications and dissemination efforts. Kadubandi wrote a newsletter article, "Building Knowledge, Saving Lives: CMAP’s Suicide Prevention Policy Research Hub," about CMAP’s multi-year policy research endeavor which is centered on six separate suicide prevention projects.

Meanwhile, Shu and Situ, spearheaded the creation of CMAP’s new "People Spotlight" and "Project Spotlight" series by interviewing faculty and students, writing articles, and developing graphics for social media. Shu, a rising junior and Political Science and International Studies major, said the communications work “exceeded [her] expectations.” She continued, “I thought I’d just be doing social media content, but I ended up meeting a lot of people, building connections, and learning more than I expected.” Situ agreed and added, “I had more creative freedom in making graphics than I ever had before, and I really enjoyed that.”

Throughout the internship, the interns also had the opportunity to participate in professional development activities. They attended a panel of PhD students to learn and ask questions about experiences in graduate school, practiced their public speaking skills by presenting their work from over the summer to the CMAP leadership team, and networked with fellow interns at the Center for Health Systems and Policy Modeling while on a field trip to the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in D.C. “I really liked the grad school lunch. The field trip to D.C. also stood out as really impactful,” said Shu.

As CMAP’s first cohort of summer interns, Kadubandi, Shu, and Situ helped set the tone for what the program can be—an immersive experience that blends research, policy, communications, and community. "Neeraj, Yvette and YuTing were such welcome additions to our CMAP team this summer.  Their contributions not only advanced CMAP’s projects in meaningful ways but also laid the groundwork for the future of our internship program. We’re so grateful to them!” said Bandara. The Center looks forward to continuing this program in the summers ahead and fostering the next generation of public health leaders committed to improving mental health and addiction policy.