Overview of Internships
Health and social science master's and doctoral students who demonstrate leadership, excellent communication skills, analytic and research skills, outstanding achievement, and a genuine desire to improve the health of the community are invited to apply for an internship that includes a yearly stipend with tuition remission. The interns at The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati work 20 hours per week for 12 months. If you are a student interested in an internship at the Health Foundation, contact Diana Trapp for application materials or download the Health Foundation Internship application. Internship selections are announced by March 1. Please read the descriptions below to find out more about the two internships at the Health Foundation.

Application Materials
2008/2009 Internship Application
Internship Application Check list
2008 Intership Flier
Frequently Asked Questions

Eddie Lee Ralls Sellers Internship
Eddie Sellers was among the first three African-American nurses graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health in 1951.  She also earned a Master’s in Community Planning in 1972.

Eddie Sellers’ professional life revolved around caring for people and changing the system to provide access to health care for the underserved.  To do this work, she had to overcome the hurdles of discrimination, community apathy toward the underserved, and all the problems of providing health care to low-income people.  That she did this in an astute and intelligent, diligent, loving way is a testament that The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati wishes to honor through this internship.

Eddie Sellers’ and other community activists and leaders worked to establish community health care centers throughout Cincinnati to provide access to health care to the underserved people.  This resulted in the establishment of the West End Health Center.  She was the center’s founding Executive Director from 1974-1984.

To honor her lifetime of achievements The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati has established the Eddie Lee Ralls Sellers Internship, to expose the best and brightest students from area colleges and universities to the principles of community health and philanthropy.  Criteria for the internship include intelligence, compassion, integrity, and sense of community, courage and leadership, characteristics which Sellers embodied throughout her lifetime.

Robert I. Westheimer Internship
Robert I. Westheimer’s love and commitment to family, friends and the community in which he lived is an example of the impact and difference that one person can make in the life of others.  As a husband, father, businessman and civic leader, he demonstrated the highest sense of integrity, intelligence, and compassion toward those with whom he came in contact.  He leaves a lasting legacy of community accomplishments.

Throughout his career in the business community, he was known for his keen ability to question, to listen and to strategize.  Following in his parents’ footsteps, Westheimer devoted his skills to community betterment.  He was active in the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Family Service Bureau.  He was an advocate for racial justice.  In 1939 he began a lifelong relationship with the Community Chest (later United Way).  He served on the Board of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation for over 15 years.  He saw philanthropy as giving people the means to help themselves.  For his many efforts on behalf of the community he was honored with the Great Living Cincinnatian Award in 1996.

In the late 1980s, as he entered his seventies, he took on the challenge of an entirely new field – managed health care.  His leadership as Chairman of the Board of ChoiceCare and his vision for a health philanthropy led to the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, the largest independent charitable foundation in Greater Cincinnati with a focus on improving health.  The Foundation promotes the health of the people of Cincinnati and surrounding counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana through investing in projects that will improve community health and create lasting value for the community.

To honor his lifetime of achievements the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati has established the Robert I. Westheimer Internship, to expose the best and brightest students from area colleges and universities to the principles of community health and philanthropy.  Criteria for the internship include; intelligence, compassion, integrity, sense of community, courage and leadership, characteristics which Westheimer, embodied throughout his lifetime.