Commitment to Healthcare and Education Equity a Perfect Fit for Internship

Camore Fordham’s career plans are in healthcare — and that, she says, makes an internship focused on education equity a perfect fit.

“People can take care of themselves a lot better if they have the education and resources they need,” says Fordham, who is part of the summer and fall 2024 Every Learner Everywhere internship program. “I see how important it is to get resources to everyone and to make sure it’s efficient.”

Support for minoritized populations

Fordham is a senior majoring in health science on a pre-med track at Spelman College in Atlanta. She had a background in both healthcare and education when she began her association with Every Learner, with previous roles in both fields.

Through a previous internship and in volunteer work, the Charleston, S.C., native has been responsible for efforts such as:

• Conducting research and analysis to inform plans for community health interventions.
• Supporting efforts to ensure that Black women have transportation to doctor appointments.
• Designing a pre-health student resource hub, which provides scholarships, internships, and career development materials.
• Establishing learning goals and tutoring children to help them improve their reading skills.
• Leading group discussions, events, and mentoring to assist college freshmen.

Following those experiences, Fordham found herself drawn to other ways of supporting communities and improving education. She discovered such an opportunity in the Every Learner internship.

Educational equity as community support

Now Fordham is building on her previous efforts to advance equity and education. She and her fellow interns are exploring AI tools and their use in academia, with plans to share the results of their work with educators and learners.

For her part, Fordham is researching options for artificial intelligence tools that students and instructors can use to enhance audio communication.

By making AI and instructions for its use broadly available, the Every Learner interns hope to help erase inequities in the use of artificial intelligence to advance academic success — especially for underserved populations.

“Once the research is done,” Fordham says, “teachers and students will know exactly how various AI tools work. We will have already gone through the process of learning how they can use it, to make things easier for them.”

Lifelong interest in education, healthcare

Fordham has always been interested in becoming a teacher, but one job during her first year of college was providing direct care for those with disabilities, and that experience solidified Fordham’s choice to work in medicine. Her hope now is to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology or dermatology because those practice areas align with her passion for providing direct care.

Through education and treatment, she hopes to help eliminate disparities in care and improve communities’ health outcomes.

“What I plan to do,” Fordham says, “is to not only be in a doctor’s office but to also go out into the community and let people know how to prevent even having to go to the doctor’s office. I want to give them resources and educate them about how to take care of themselves.”

Broad base of knowledge

Despite her focus on healthcare, Fordham never lost interest in other academic disciplines, which has informed her perspective on helping underserved populations. She mentions Women’s Studies and philosophy seminars as examples of courses that have expanded her awareness of social influences and of how to critically evaluate arguments.

“These disciplines encouraged me to question accepted wisdom and consider different perspectives on the world,” she says.

“I understand there are some groups of people who just need a little more help, and that has driven me to pursue that interest more. In healthcare as a whole, there could be a better job of getting education and patient care into the community.”

A historically Black liberal arts college, Spelman encourages students to take classes in a variety of disciplines. Studying there has allowed Fordham to pursue her other interests, from education to the African diaspora, even as she concentrates on health science. She says this exposure to a vast range of academic subjects gives her the ability to look at issues from multiple angles.

Support for local and global change

Fordham brings insight from her broad academic background to her exploration of the ways that technology can enhance people’s academic experiences — and improve their lives. “This internship,” she says, “is showing me that we have to figure out new ways to communicate with teachers and students in schools and with everyone in the community.”

To that end, Fordham is cataloging details about each AI tool she reviews. She hopes the information and tips she and her fellow interns compile and share will spark improvements in teaching and learning and, ultimately, on the public’s well-being.

“If the work I put in makes an impact, even if it’s a little impact that gives Every Learner more ideas to keep going,” Fordham says, “then I’ll be able to say I helped the organization to make a change in schools, the community, and the world.”