The Practice Experience Program offers a 10-month externship (November 3, 2025 - June 26, 2026) to graduate or professional students in Health Informatics, Health Administration, Computer Science, Data Science, Public Health Sciences, or a related field. The Practice Experience Program Extern will have a unique opportunity to gain experience in Epic Electronic Health Record as well as network with professionals within UC Davis Health Clinical Informatics and Information Technology Epic Applications. Review the Fall 2025 Externship Application.
Student Externship
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The Practice Experience Program Extern supports the UC Davis Health System Clinical Informatics Manager, Practice Experience Program and System Clinical Care Services Division. Shadowing members of the Practice Experience Program Team, the student extern will gain experience in project management, Epic training, and Epic application build.
The extern must be highly organized, able to deal with ambiguity and time pressures, and be proficient in writing, analysis, and use of all Microsoft Office tools. The extern must also be a self-starter and able to work with minimal supervision. A high degree of collaboration and professionalism, service orientation and follow through are necessary. The extern is part of the Practice Experience Program and reports to the Practice Experience Program Externship Supervisor.
- Current graduate or professional student studying Health Informatics, Public Health Sciences, Health Administration, Computer Science or related field
- Graduate GPA of a 3.5 or higher
- Ability to hold a 19 hours/week position for 10 months in a hybrid setting
- Detail oriented, with proven ability to effectively manage time, see projects through to completion, organize competing priorities, and effectively address complex, urgent issues as they arise.
- Knowledge of relevant clinical informatics software and technology, and the complex concepts, principles, policies, methodologies, and industry standards and practices involved with patient care and electronic medical data management in the UC health care system.
- Excellent customer service skills working with all levels of customers; excellent verbal and written communication skills in an informative and diplomatic manner.
- Analytical experience to research and collate data and knowledge in documentation to create reports/presentations and present to Senior Management and other staff.
- Ability to independently coordinate/perform a variety of tasks and functions, to work around an ever-changing environment of frequent interruptions and priorities, to organize workload and set priorities to work under pressure and strict deadlines, realigning priorities as necessary.
- Ability to use word processor with speed and accuracy; to read, effectively compose, and edit documents with an excellent working knowledge of English grammar, hospital-related terminology (including medical terminology), punctuation, spelling, proofreading skills, familiarity with office procedures, style and format; must pay strict attention to detail; obtain and verify information used in documents; design office procedures, style and format.
I applied to the Practice Experience Program Externship to get more hands-on experience working with Epic and get exposed to the various processes involved in maintain and updating an Electronic Health Record system. My time as an extern has been a transformative one, thanks in no small part to the kind and intelligent members of the team, as they helped me explore my various interests in the workings of Epic, data analytics, and project management and organization." —Akshat Khandelwal (Spring 2025 Extern)
It has been a privilege to be an extern for the Practice Experience Program. I have learned so much during my time here from following and managing an engagement life cycle to learning about Epic in depth. As a graduate student in the Health Informatics program at UC Davis, it was a great experience to be able to apply what I have learned in the classroom to real-world scenarios. I enjoyed working with the wonderful members of the PEP team who warmly welcomed me as an extern and were always open to helping me. For those who are curious about the program, I encourage you to apply!"—Kaitline Le (Spring 2025 Extern)
I was able to get a more in-depth look into the inner workings of the Epic EHR, and also be exposed to various roles and work processes. I was highly impressed by the organizational structure of the Practice Experience Program Team, and gained new skills in coordinating meetings, utilizing time-management software, learned processes of project timeline development and process and impact evaluations. I also made new friends as well as be able to explore other UC Davis Health Departments. I would highly recommend the Practice Experience Program Externship to all students."—Hien Ho (Spring 2022 Extern)
I wholeheartedly endorse the Practice Experience Program Externship to all qualified students without hesitation. It has been a transformative experience that has molded me into a more proficient individual, particularly by providing a gentle introduction to the field of clinical informatics and project management, all while having the unwavering support of our supervisors. I am very grateful!"—Priya Sharma (Spring 2022 Extern)
The Practice Experience Program Externship granted me another perspective of healthcare that is not well known, but vital in providing high quality of care. I hope to apply the analytic and organizational skills I learned into my future public health career."—Noah Hoang (Fall 2022 Extern)
I applied for the Practice Experience Program Externship to gain real-world insight in my field of study. The Externship provided me the opportunity to explore my interests in Epic training, technical project management and Epic build. I wholeheartedly recommend this experience to any graduate/professional student looking to work in Clinical Informatics." —Neha Singh (Spring 2021 Extern)
I applied to the Practice Experience Program Externship because I wanted to gain experience from a nationally recognized program that provides exclusive training with an electronic health record system and Epic in particular. From my first day in the program, the team has been incredibly welcoming and has offered me their complete support in the development of my professional growth."—Hawa Kaba (Spring 2021 Extern)
