Lerner Center Fellowships

LERNER CENTER COMMUNITY NUTRITION SECURITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH FELLOWSHIP

This summer, the Center hired two Lerner Center APEx Fellows to support NYP CHALK program initiatives and promote Healthy Monday concepts within the local community. 

• Healthy Monday is a national public health initiative to help end chronic preventable diseases by offering weekly prompts to support people and programs in starting and sustaining healthy behaviors. It is a signature program at the Lerner Center. 
• NYP CHALK: The NYP Choosing Healthy & Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK) program aims to increase healthy lifestyles for residents of all ages in priority neighborhoods across NYC and Westchester County. One CHALK program is Youth Market. This is a paid summer internship on the front lines of community nutrition security and public health education. The program provides youth interns (16-21 years of age) with an opportunity to get involved with local food systems and nutrition education. Youth Market operates in Uptown Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Mount Vernon. Teams of youth interns are recruited for each site. 

The goal of this Fellowship is to support the CHALK team in supervising and mentoring interns as they work in the community. APEx Fellows will participate in all Youth Market program management and implementation activities and assist with data collection. Fellows will also promote Healthy Monday by designing a nutrition-focused Healthy Monday informational pamphlet, developing educational Healthy Monday content for Youth Market Interns, and disseminating Healthy Monday grocery-friendly bags to customers at Youth Market stands. 

We are excited to be working with Annie Adams and Mariana Garza this Summer as our 2026 Community Nutrition Security and Public Health Fellows! 

• Mariana Garza is a rising second-year MPH student in the Sociomedical Sciences Department and is pursuing a certificate in Health Promotion Research and Practice. She received a BS in Public Health from The University of Texas at Austin. Originally from the Texas–Mexico border, her experiences shaped her passion for health equity, migrant health, and underserved communities.
• Annie Adams is an MPH Candidate in the Department of Population and Family Health, where she investigates the relationship between nutrition policy and programs and disease across the lifespan. She holds degrees in Biochemistry and in Science, Technology & Society, with a minor in Health Economics, from Vassar College. 

SID LERNER COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND STORYTELLING FELLOWSHIP

This Summer, we hired our first Community Engagement and Storytelling Fellow, Alyssa Sutherland! Alyssa will help to design, promote and implement a workshop series and film festival for the Upper Manhattan community. She will also assist with community outreach and relationship building.

• Alyssa Sutherland is an MPH candidate with a concentration in Sexuality, Sexual & Reproductive Health. She holds a B.S. in Public Health and Women's and Gender Studies from Syracuse University. Alyssa's public health interests center on Black community health, disability, gender, and reproductive health grounded in lived experience and participatory community-based approaches.

LERNER CENTER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

The Summer Lerner Research Fellowship Program was established to support MPH students who are committed to the discovery and application of evidence-based health promotion and health communication practices. The program allows fellows to apply their academic training to the science of health promotion and health communication. Summer fellows are compensated, and work on multiple research projects, guided under the mentorship of Center staff and faculty. The application cycle is currently closed. 

Read about Samantha Khandakji's experience as a Lerner Center Research Fellow! 

LERNER CENTER HEALTH COMMUNICATION FELLOWSHIP

With its unique focus on health communications and community engagement, the Health Communication Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for public health students to engage in hands-on, practice-based skills building. This new program supports the implementation of newly designed protocols to increase Upper Manhattan's community engagement with the Get Healthy Harlem and Get Healthy Heights websites. Students will have the unique opportunity to develop a portfolio of health literate, geographically-focused, culturally-relevant consumer-facing content for online use, as well as to develop practical skills in curating social media channels. The application cycle is currently closed. 

LERNER CENTER SERVICE LEARNING FELLOWSHIP

For two years, the Lerner Center supported interprofessional education, service learning, community-based participatory research in Puerto Rico through the Lerner Service Learning Fellowship. To learn more about the project and our past Service Learning Fellows, view their presentation.

WATCH OUR LERNER FELLOWSHIP EXPERIENCE VIDEO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM.