The Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) offers internships in the following units:
- Bereavement Support Services
- Fatality Review Program
- Pathology
- Toxicology
Interns must be enrolled in a degree program. The MEO only hosts interns from schools that have an official agreement with the City. The school’s representative will confirm eligibility and provide application details. Contact the representative at your school (a professor, academic advisor, or department chair) to find out if your school has an agreement with the City.
We do not accept volunteers to work in any of our units.
Bereavement Support Services
The Bereavement Support Services unit offers limited internships. Internships are awarded to students enrolled in a master’s-level social work program. Students must be in their second year of field placement.
For further information, contact Tim-Ryan Le at tim-ryan.le@phila.gov.
Fatality Review Program
Each summer, the Fatality Review Program accepts interns through the Mayor’s Internship Program. Interns are sometimes also accepted during the academic year.
Applicants must be either:
- Upper-level undergraduate students majoring in public health
- Graduate students in public health or other health-related fields
For further information, contact Tim-Ryan Le at tim-ryan.le@phila.gov.
Pathology
The pathology unit offers elective rotations for:
- Residents.
- Third- and fourth-year medical students.
- Pathologists’ assistant students.
The intern’s college or university pathology department must arrange these elective rotations.
For more information, contact Gary Sullivan at gary.sullivan@phila.gov.
Toxicology
Internships in the toxicology lab are available to undergraduate juniors or seniors who are chemistry or forensic science majors and who have passed classes in:
- Analytical chemistry.
- Organic chemistry.
- Biochemistry.
Toxicology lab internships are also available to graduate students in any year who have passed classes in the subjects above.
Internship agreements
An internship agreement must be in place between the school and the City before any student can be considered for an internship in the toxicology lab.
- If an agreement is in place, application deadlines are:
Summer internships, March 15
Fall internships, July 31
Spring internships, Nov 30
- If an agreement is not in place, the student must provide the email address for the person to whom agreement information should be sent. These agreements usually take at least four months to complete. No student will be sent an internship application until the agreement is signed by both the school and the City. Application deadlines listed above still apply.
How to apply
To request consideration for a internship in the toxicology lab, the student should email an unofficial transcript and cover letter to Lisa Mundy at lisa.mundy@phila.gov. This should be followed by a letter of recommendation from the student’s academic advisor, on official college letterhead, sent to the same email address. After we receive these materials, and we determine that the student is qualified to apply, we will email an application to the student.