WHY BHLP DEVELOPED AN INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Located in Boston, a city with many different racial, ethnic and religious communities, and at a teaching hospital that addresses the healthcare needs of these populations, the Boston Healing Landscape Project is ideally poised to conduct research and develop curricular resources that focus on cultural, religious, and medical pluralism. Since its inception, the BHLP’s mission has been to improve communication between providers and patients, foster greater cross cultural understanding, and address healthcare disparities that often affect these groups.
Soon after BHLP was established, we began to receive requests from bright, highly-motivated students at some of the top universities in New England and the US, hoping to gain first-hand knowledge and research experience in this field. Since there were few internship opportunities for scholars wishing to explore the intersection of religion, culture, and medicine, we created positions as time and resources allowed. However, demand soon increased to such a degree that we decided to create a formal internship program beginning in 2007. |
