Internship Blogs: Interns, Alumni, Worksites, & More

Hello! My name is Misha Grdzelishvili, and I am a senior from Harrisburg, North Carolina majoring in Psychology (B.S.) and minoring in Neuroscience. I plan to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. This Fall 2026 semester, I am interning at the UNC Neurocognition and Imaging Research Lab (NIRL) under Dr. Aysenil Belger, where research is conducted on the functional anatomy of the human brain and how the breakdown of neural circuits leads to the onset of neuropsychiatric and neu

Hi! My name is Kanushi Navaneethakrishnan, and I am a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio double majoring in Neuroscience and Biology on the pre-med track. For the Fall 2026 semester, I am interning at the UNC Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Community Clinic through the Karen M. Gil Internship. The Community Clinic provides psychotherapy and psychological assessment services to UNC and the surrounding community while giving doctoral students in clinical psychology supervis

Hi! My name is Vanessa Hsieh, and I am a senior from Long Island, New York majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Business Administration and Chemistry. For the Fall 2026 semester, I am interning at 3-C Family Services, which is a private practice that utilizes research-based clinical practices, such as psychiatry, psychology, and therapeutic techniques, to provide mental health support to children, adolescents, and adults. My interest in the brain and its behavioral outcom

Hi! My name is Yijia Jia, and I am a clinical psychology intern at the PRIME Research Program. I’m currently a junior double majoring in Psychology and Statistics, with a minor in Astronomy. My interest in psychology began before I knew much about psychological research. In middle school, I noticed that some people around me often held stereotypes about certain mental disorders and even joked around, without much understanding of what these terms actually meant. To challenge

Hi! My name is Karenna Barmada, and I am a senior from Washington, D.C. studying Neuroscience with a Business of Health minor at Kenan-Flagler Business School. This spring, I had the opportunity to intern at UNC's Center for Thriving Communities through the Karen M. Gil Internship Program, supporting the CommunityRx-Kidney Health trial, a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-funded randomized clinical trial examining the effect of a structured comm

Hello! My name is Kariss Cone, and I am a senior from Nashville, Tennessee, double-majoring in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Social and Economic Justice. This semester, I’ve had the privilege of working as a Clinical Psychology Intern at The Purpose Center @ KKJ Forensic and Psychological Services in Durham. My interest in psychology comes from both intellectual curiosity in the human brain and behavior, and from personal experience. From navigating my own mental h

Hi there! My name is Athena Dontas, a current Karen M. Gil Social Psychology intern at UNC TEACCH Autism: Employment Services. I am a junior from Roxboro, North Carolina pursuing my B.A. in Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My interest within the field of psychology was piqued from a young age, when I tried to understand the struggles my older brother constantly wrestled with. My older brother was diagnosed with high-functioning Autism at an ea

Hello everyone! My name is Richie Gray, and I am the Gil Internship Manager for the Spring 2026 Gil cohort. I had the pleasure of visiting The Purpose Center (formerly known as KKJ Forensic and Psychological Services) recently during the Spring 2026 semester. This was a unique experience as this was the Gil Internship’s first virtual site visit! The Purpose Center is a multi-speciality, small private clinic in Durham, North Carolina, that provides empirically-supported psych

Hello everyone! My name is Juliana Floriani, and I am a clinical psychology intern at 3-C Family Services this semester. I am currently a senior from Asheville, North Carolina, pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology. My interest in psychology began through my clinical shadowing experiences in high school. I was one of eight students selected for the MAHEC Mentoring Program, where I spent time shadowing in a women’s health clinic. Many of the patients I observ

Hi y’all! My name is Fareeda Akewusola, and I am a senior Neuroscience major from Houston, Texas, with double minors in Medical Anthropology and Entrepreneurship. This semester, I have had the incredibly enriching experience of working as a Clinical Psychology Intern with the AHB Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness in Durham. My interest in mental health has always lived at the intersection of science and lived experience. Growing up in Nigeria, I witnessed firsthand

Hello! My name is Charlotte Wilkerson, and I am a Clinical Psychology Intern at Lepage Associates Psychological Services this semester. I’m a junior from Asheville, North Carolina pursuing a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in German studies. My interest in psychology originated from personal experience with chronic illness. I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis when I was 10, and it took years for it to go into remission, making it a defining aspect of my adolescence. I ex

Hi everyone! My name is Urvi Patel, and I am a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in Neuroscience, with minors in Chemistry and Entrepreneurship. Throughout my time at Carolina, I have been driven by a strong interest in how access shapes health outcomes. As I prepare for a career in medicine, I have become especially committed to addressing the inequities that prevent individuals in underserved communities from receiving quality care. “I’m sor

Hello! My name is Megan Taylor (she/her), and I am a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. I’m originally from Minneapolis, MN, and this semester, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to serve as a Gil Intern at the TEACCH Autism Program. My interest in the human brain and neuroscience originated from early personal experiences that highlighted how severe neurological conditions and behavioral health crises fundamentally influence dail

“Honey, take the Ativan!” This was the most salient request coming through the chaos of shuffling feet and crowding bodies and beeping machines as a Holly Hill patient laid on the ground by the med window, convulsing and crying, presumably having an anxiety attack. She was refusing the medicine, trying to write her requests and feelings on a piece of paper because she was hard of hearing and temporarily mute amidst the panic and stress. The Holly Hill staff, finding her vital

Hello! My name is Yuthika Sathyanarayanan (she/her). I am a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in Psychology and Biology and minoring in Social and Economic Justice. My interest in psychology and psychiatry began in middle school, when I started to learn more about human behavior and recent clinical psychology research. However, this interest in psychology probably stemmed from a much younger age, a time when I was a kid watching detective and spy shows, reading Sherlock and

Hello all! My name is Darian Du (he/him pronouns), and I’m currently an undergraduate junior at UNC-Chapel Hill pursuing a major in Psychology working at the Morse Clinic in Durham, NC. Though I wasn’t always passionate about psychology and mental health, my love for it began in high school, enrolling in AP Psych, (misguidedly) thinking that it could help resolve my mental health challenges. While indeed, there were some tangentially-related habits and/or techniques that I wo

Hello everyone! My name is Richie Gray, and I am the Gil Internship Manager for the Fall 2025 cohort. I had the pleasure of visiting Lepage Associates during the Fall 2025 semester. Lepage Associates is a multi-speciality private practice that offers a wide range of psychological and psychiatric services for both adults and children. These services include psychotherapy, psychoeducation, testing & assessments, forensic evaluations, and much more. Lepage Associates' office

Hello, my name is D’Shawn Thomas, and I am a senior at UNC–Chapel Hill, majoring in Psychology (B.S.) with a minor in Chemistry. My passion for psychiatry began during my senior year of high school, a period when I first started to see how mental health intersects with culture, community, and identity. Growing up, I saw someone close to me in my immediate family struggle with addiction, and I witnessed the emotional weight that untreated mental health challenges can place on

That’s the word that plays over and over again in my mind as I drive twenty minutes out to an eating disorder and mental health treatment center in Durham, North Carolina. Carolina House offers residential, partial hospitalization (PHP), and intensive outpatient care (IOP) for adults. And yet, despite being one of the few facilities of its kind in the state, it has been shut down and deemed financially unsustainable. Clients were forced to transfer elsewhere, and staff member

Hello! My name is Yutong Wu, and I’m from Nanjing, China. I’m currently a junior majoring in Psychology and Biostatistics, with a minor in Education. My interest in clinical psychology first began in middle school when I realized how fascinated I was by observing people, understanding their behaviors, and exploring the reasons behind them. Although my high school didn’t offer psychology courses, I started teaching myself, reading related books, and even founded a psychology c