Ashley is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in Global Health and minoring in Spanish Literature. She works as a research assistant for MotherToBaby, an organization dedicated to research on exposures during pregnancy.
At MotherToBaby, the interviewers call the participants at certain points of their pregnancy to inquire about any exposures they may have had. After the mothers give birth, they receive one last phone call to talk about the outcome of their pregnancy.
Ashley's role at MotherToBaby was purely observational and involved working with a call center and a validation team. Some tasks included creating files for participants, sending out packages to participants, and scanning files for validation. She also received training related to PPI and made sure all participant information was secure.
One challenging aspect of Ashley's field experience was time management and division of labor. The call center can get extremely busy at times, which resulted in an increase of responsibilities for the duration of the shift. It forced Ashley to work on her prioritization skills as certain work needed to be completed quickly so that interviewers had an easier time looking for participant information.
I made a lot of great memories and friendships with other students working at MotherToBaby as well as some of the full-time workers! This field experience was the second job I've ever had and it made me realize that having a job could be fun and manageable!
Overall, Ashley has had a wonderful time at MotherToBaby. She appreciates that she can have fun while completing meaningful work.