CONMED’s Talent Launch Internship Program is a hands on immersive program designed to provide students with the exposure, experience and development needed to launch a successful career at CONMED. Hear from former intern, Sandra, on what her internship experience entailed!

My internship at CONMED allowed me to explore a goal both CONMED and I share: to “Enable healthcare providers around the world to deliver exceptional outcomes for patients through accessible CONMED solutions.” Through my career as a microbiologist, I wish to make a positive impact in the healthcare system. CONMED has allowed me to begin to do just that.

At CONMED, I held the Microbiologist Intern position with the Microbiology Laboratory and Sterilization Technical Services team, working in the Quality Assurance Department. Right off the bat, I began learning and working in the lab, experiencing multiple roles and responsibilities. This included reading quality assurance plans (QAPs) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and executing these in the microbiology lab.

I also made disinfectants, read pressure and temperature charts, and created different types of media to ensure the lab was in order. I handled water testing, biological indicators, preparation and testing, environmental testing, and bioburden recovery and testing. I also completed pyrogen testing, tissue culture media preparation, cytotoxicity testing, product sterility testing, gram staining and growth promotion testing.

In addition to daily testing responsibilities, I worked on an independent bioburden sterilization project where I wrote a QAP for a bioburden procedure and worked with irradiation sterilization master products. Through working on this project, I learned how to write a QAP and further familiarized myself with CONMED’s medical device products. I also learned how to communicate efficiently with team members from other CONMED locations, including Chihuahua, Mexico and Utica, New York.

My biggest takeaway from the internship was the feeling I got after every test I performed, knowing it was going to make a difference within the healthcare field. CONMED made it easy to take great pride in my work and the impact I was making on someone else’s life.

The practices and training I encountered throughout my internship taught me a great deal, and I could not have done it all without the lab team that directed me with eagerness, trust, and patience. My supervisor did a wonderful job training me and prepared me enough to complete tests on my own. This hands-on experience with such an amazing crew of people was invaluable.

I will absolutely take the internship experience with me for the rest of my career. I appreciate everything that the Microbiology Laboratory and Sterilization Technical Services and CONMED has done for me!

Sandra completed a Microbiology Internship in 2021 and will start a full-time role as a Microbiologist at CONMED in January 2022. She is a 2020 graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University with a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and will graduate with her master’s in Molecular Biotechnology from Inter American University of Puerto Rico in 2023.

Interested in learning more about CONMED’s Talent Launch Internship Program? Check out our careers site here. You can find more University Recruiting blog articles here.