1. Grace Sollender is a junior at Dartmouth College double-
majoring in Biology and Spanish. She’s from Greenwood
Village, Colorado, where she graduated from St. Mary’s
Academy. Grace is interested in the intersection of
preventive medicine with public health as well as healthcare
disparities within Spanish-speaking communities. She plans
to attend medical school for a Masters in Public Health (MPH)
after graduation. She is a Presidential Scholar at DHMC where
she is involved in a project that seeks to improve the quality
of care provided to babies at risk for Neonatal Abstinence
Syndrome. On campus, she is also a teaching assistant for
chemistry lab and works as a Spanish drill instructor. She
plans to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the
Dartmouth Spanish Department FSP at Universidad Argentina de la Empresa.
Grace was funded by the Rockefeller Center for a Winter 2014 internship, with generous support
from the Mr. E. John Rosenwald Jr. ’52 Public Affairs Internship Fund.
Executive Summary from Grace’s final report:
I interned at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - National Center for
Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) located in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC is a
federal governmental agency charged with protecting public health and safety by controlling
and preventing disease, injury, and disability. The NCIRD is specifically responsible for
preventing disease, disability, and death through immunization and by control of respiratory
and related diseases.
The projects that I was involved with related to improving
uptake of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine among
teenagers in the United States. It is urgent that health
policy officials work to increase HPV vaccine uptake now to
reduce cancer rates in the future. One of my projects was
creating color-coded maps that show state-mandated
vaccine requirements for entry into middle school. I
compared the maps from 2007 to 2014 to see how vaccine
[MR. E. JOHN ROSENWALD JR. ’52 PUBLIC AFFAIRS FUND INTERN PROFILE]
“It was an incredibly rewarding
and insightful experience to
intern with CDC NCIRD. This
experience has influenced my
career plans as a future
physician.”

2. requirements for entry into middle school have changed following new immunization practices
(ACIP) recommendations. I also wrote a brief summary on the implications of the Affordable
Care Act (ACA) on immunizations
It was an incredibly rewarding and insightful experience to intern with CDC NCIRD. One of my
favorite parts of this internship was the opportunity to learn from so many of the field’s
influential leaders and experts since I was located at the CDC headquarters. This experience has
influenced my career plans as a future physician. I thought that I wanted to pursue a Master in
Public Health (MPH) prior to attending medical school, but I have since realized that I can have
a career as a clinical epidemiologist without this degree. I will continue taking premed pre-
requisite classes at Dartmouth during my senior year so that I matriculate at the Geisel School
in fall 2015 and practice as a physician one day. It was a real privilege to work at CDC NCIRD as a
Mr. E. John Rosenwald Jr. ’52 Public Affairs Fund Named Intern. Thank you for graciously
funding my internship, Rockefeller Center.
Grace Solender ’15 with a display in the CDC’s David J. Sencer Museum.
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