Name: Claire Morris-Benedict
Class Year: 2023
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Durham, N.C.
Internship Organization: The Baker Lab at the University of North Carolina
Job Title: Research Volunteer/Intern
Location: UNC Center for Excellence in Eating Disorders
Award: Betsy Zubrow Cohen 1963 Presidential Innovation Fund
What’s happening at your internship?
I am working as a research intern this summer at the University of North Carolina’s Baker Lab. The lab is a part of the Center for Excellence in Eating Disorders and focuses on eating disorder research. I’ve been working closely with two of the lab’s studies that are part of the Ovarian Hormone and Reward Challenge Eating Disorder Studies. They are both investigating hormone influence in eating disorders, with one focused on bulimia nervosa and the other on binge eating disorder.
While working remotely at the beginning of the summer, I was placed in charge of social media recruitment for the lab. I posted recruitment messages and images weekly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Craigslist. This job improved my design and editing skills through the use of Canva.
I’ve now been able to start working in-person which I love because it feels more hands-on. Recently, my job has been creating study-visit packets and saliva test kits for study participants. These are sent home with participants and give them information on how to complete each at-home test. Our lab then tests the provided saliva and records data from each sample.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I applied for this internship because all of the current research and work at the Baker Lab aligns with my personal and academic interests. I am in recovery from an eating disorder, so I have long been interested in understanding how eating disorders develop and more about the recovery process. As a psychology major, I am interested in pursuing at least a master’s degree in psychology and then exploring either clinical eating disorder psychology or a subfield of adolescent/developmental psychology. While discovering whether I want to pursue research or clinical psychology as a career, this internship seemed like a great way for me to expand my knowledge and experience how the scientific community functions and interacts.
Visit the Summer Internship Stories page to read more about student internship experiences.