In 2023, second-year UCR undergraduate student Kelly Chen started an internship in healthcare administration through the UCR Health Clinical and Administrative Program (HCAP). Two years later, the fourth-year business major became the program’s new director.
Chen initially applied to HCAP to gain firsthand experience on her path to a healthcare career, and she saw her own growth toward her career goals while also helping the program grow. “If someone had told me during my first year when I was applying to HCAP that I would watch the program grow from 20 interns to 45 interns and have the opportunity to contribute to that growth while serving as program director, I would not have believed them,” Chen said.
Through HCAP, which began in November 2019 with its first cohort in 2020, undergraduate students like Chen can explore healthcare beyond the classroom through clinical, administrative, and medical education placements across UCR Health and UCR School of Medicine. The program was started by a group of UCR students seeking to connect undergraduates with professional development opportunities, and its mission is to prepare aspiring healthcare professionals to “embrace healthcare through a holistic lens” by developing an understanding of both the clinical and administrative sides of healthcare. Since then, the program has continued to grow in both the number of interns and the departments available to students.
Finding a place in healthcare
HCAP gives students with different interests and backgrounds a chance to find their place in healthcare. The program offers a variety of opportunities toward this objective. While Chen entered the program through the Marketing--UCPath track, Omair Rana was assigned to the UCR SOM's Center for Simulated Patient Care when he was a second-year student in 2024. His two years there exposed him to medical education and the professionals who support it.
For 2025-2026 intern Anisha Haque, HCAP offered another perspective. As a neuroscience student interested in becoming a physician, Haque had primarily encountered healthcare through science, research, and direct patient care. Her placement on the SOM’s Strategic Initiatives team allowed her to explore another dimension of healthcare through the work happening behind the scenes at the School of Medicine.
“I felt that being exposed to the administrative part of medicine was just as important as the clinical side,” recalled Haque, who graduated from UCR in 2026. “I hoped that the internship would give me a chance to learn more about the people, programs, and work happening behind the scenes in healthcare, and it absolutely did.”
Learning by doing
HCAP’s different placements allow students to take on responsibilities that mirror the work of the professionals around them. Chen's internship in marketing introduced her to professional communication and collaboration with physicians, while Rana's time in the Center for Simulated Patient Care gave him the chance to experience a fast-paced environment and develop his professionalism by working alongside medical education professionals.
For Haque, working with the communications unit within Strategic Initiatives pushed her to develop her writing and editing skills through interviews with students, faculty, and staff. “I became much more comfortable reaching out to people I had never met before, conducting interviews, asking follow-up questions, and having conversations with different students, faculty, and staff,” she said.
One project that stood out to Haque was her article Reflections on Black History Month. Through interviews across the SOM, she explored perspectives on Black history, representation, and health equity. Seeing the article published allowed her to share those perspectives with the broader School of Medicine community.
Growth beyond the internship
For all three students, their HCAP experiences became more than opportunities to develop new skills. As they became more comfortable in their roles, they found new ways to contribute to the program itself.
Chen and Rana both quickly moved into leadership roles within HCAP. After her first year as a marketing department intern, Chen became HCAP’s promotions lead before eventually becoming program director. “Being able to play a role in the program's growth and success has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my college career,” Chen said. Rana progressed from intern to associate director and then to director. As director, he helped establish an information session where prospective applicants could hear directly from current interns about the program's different departments and experiences.
In both cases, their leadership allowed them to contribute to the program while creating opportunities for the next generation of interns.
Looking ahead
HCAP’s impact extended beyond the students’ time in the program, shaping how Chen, Rana, and Haque envision their futures in the field and what they hope to pass on to future interns.
After graduating from UCR in 2026, Chen continued her involvement with HCAP as an alumni advisor, while Rana, now a fourth-year student, returned as director. Their ongoing involvement reflects how their experiences as interns developed into longer-term opportunities to contribute to the program and the healthcare community.
“What an intern gets out of this internship is directly related to what they put into it,” Rana said. “Rather than worrying about being the smartest in the room, take advantage of being in the room in the first place, and be open to learning from experienced professionals to grow as an intern, a student, and a future professional in whatever field you go into.”
Anisha Haque contributed reporting to this story.
