Summer 2020 Internship Opportunity

The Right Care Alliance is looking for a research intern for the summer. Learn more about the position and apply on Indeed. 

Insulin Market Research Intern

Location: Can be based anywhere, but preference for Boston area residents
Type of Job: Internship
Salary: $0.00 /hour
Start Date: Flexible
To Apply: Please apply through Indeed by June 12, 2020.

About the Lown Institute:

The Lown Institute is a nonpartisan think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. We are focused on finding a path to a radically better health system, one that gives all people a chance to be as healthy as possible, no matter who they are or where they live.

We use data to increase knowledge, and we generate big ideas that can bridge the gap between current policy solutions and the system that this country wants and needs. Our work is centered around four main topics: low-value, or unnecessary care; accountability; health equity; and healing and the human connection.

About the Right Care Alliance:

The Right Care Alliance (RCA), an initiative of the Lown Institute, is a grassroots coalition of clinicians, patients, and community members organizing to make health care institutions accountable to communities and put patients, not profits, at the heart of health care.

The Position

Do you want to put your research and investigative skills to the test and dive into the real world of pharmaceutical companies? Have you ever wondered how pharma companies set their drug prices or ask yourself: where does all the money go?

The Right Care Alliance seeks a part-time Research Intern dedicated to the topic of insulin costs to work closely with the principal investigator Victor Roy, MD, PhD who is a physician at Boston Medical Center and a research fellow at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. This is a part-time, temporary, unpaid internship position.

The Research Project

There are two main objectives:

  • Document the historical evolution of the access to insulin crisis by focusing on the major manufacturers of insulin products, map the insulin ‘market’, investigate the finances and pricing strategies of the major insulin manufacturers, and characterize their impact on the access to insulin crisis.
  • Translate this research in a way that heightens public awareness about the ethical and human impacts of business strategies on patients relying on insulin for their health and survival. This will be done through a policy briefing and/or academic journal article accompanied by a piece written in the popular media.

Here’s a snapshot of what you’d be researching and writing about

  • Mapping the ‘insulin market’
  • Investigating insulin manufacturers, insulin prices, and financial flows
  • Describing the access to insulin crisis and proposing responses

Who we’re looking for

  • Graduate-level or senior undergraduate student
  • Passionate about using research to influence health policy and increase access to medicines
  • Eagerness to learn about the fields of political economy, innovation studies, and finance
  • Excited by the detective work of pursuing sources, tracking qualitative and quantitative data, and piecing together a story
  • Fluency in MS Office products, with basic to intermediate Excel proficiency
  • Proactive, detail-oriented, and able to work in both a remote and collaborative environment

Work Schedule

  • Part-time, flexible start date, ideally July 2020
  • Option to telecommute with occasional in-person meetings with Dr. Roy

To Apply: Please apply through Indeed by June 12, 2020.