Overview
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Healthcare Administration Graduate Student Program is a cohort model internship experience designed to offer motivated graduate students the opportunity to spend a summer working in healthcare administration and operations. The cohort reports to both the Strategic Planning and Decision Support Office and the Office of the CAO/CFO. During the summer program, the selected students will gain an in-depth understanding of pediatric hospital and clinical operations, research operations, and administrative operations, with a focus on financial operations, campus operations, quality and patient safety, clinical logistics and space, internal audit, strategic planning, and innovation and design.
The program administration team is hosting three webinars for interested students to learn more about the internship and ask questions. Please register at the links below:
Internship description
The student will participate in financial, strategic, and operational projects that support the organization. Some responsibilities will include project management, data analysis and forecasting, root-cause analysis, designing and presenting executive-level summaries, attendance at a variety of clinical and administrative functions, patient and family services projects, and completion of assigned projects designed to elevate skills students have learned in the classroom.
Requirements:
- Participate in various strategic and operational priority initiatives
- Conduct market research for trend identification, strategy development, and planning
- Draft reports and summaries based on research, data analysis, and financial projections
- Learn strategic planning processes and organizational perspective to support institutional priorities and goals
- Assist with developing business plans
- Analyze key financial and non-financial metrics
- Collect, understand, process, verify, and report financial-related information to institutional leadership
- Complete projects as assigned in a variety of areas, including clinical, research, and business operations
Expectations
The students most likely to succeed in this role have the following qualities:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills
- Ability to manage competing priorities
- Ability to work both autonomously and in collaborative teams as needed
- Proven ability to meet deadlines
- Willingness to learn
Projects for the students are designed and assigned depending on students’ specific requests and after an evaluation of their goals and areas for development. All projects are subject to change as the needs of St. Jude pivot to accommodate internal and external changes.
Students are able to create their own projects upon their start and pursue both those and others that might have gone unassigned. This is dependent on their bandwidth to accommodate extra work outside of their assigned projects.
In addition to projects, students will complete the following:
- Intern orientation
- St. Jude Global introduction
- Year-end presentation to the senior leadership team
- Regular attendance at senior leadership meetings
- Workshops and classes as assigned
- Patient-facing volunteer activities
- Regular preceptor and project leader meetings
- Tours of campus facilities
- Meetings with campus leaders
- Shadowing opportunities as assigned
- Professional development opportunities as assigned
- Professional head shots
Time commitment
The program is a full-time learning experience. Students should expect to be available Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm, starting May 17, 2027, through August 6, 2027. Final dates depend on the chosen students’ academic schedule. The internship will be 12 weeks long.
The program is located in Memphis, TN, and requires relocation to the Memphis area. The internship is not designed to be a hybrid or remote opportunity.
Compensation, housing, and parking
Compensation will be provided in a stipend format paid monthly. For students not local to the Memphis area, St. Jude will provide housing. It is paid for by St. Jude and offered at no cost to the student. Parking is free on campus. Other perks and benefits may apply.
As of fall 2026, this monthly stipend amount is $2,946.00. St. Jude does not offer signing bonuses, moving expenses, or other reimbursements to stipend students. The stipend amount is subject to change and selected students will be notified of any updates.
Qualifications and application process
The application portal for summer 2027 will open August – October, 2026. It will be located on this page.
To be considered, applicants must electronically submit the following items by Monday, October 19, 2026, midnight CST, to the application portal. After the deadline, applications and edits to applications will not be accepted.
- Cover letter in PDF format addressing an interest in healthcare administration and describing what the student seeks from the experience
- Those seeking degrees other than MHA should articulate how they’ll use this experience within their current graduate program
- Current, updated resume in PDF format
- Graduate transcript
- Unofficial, electronic copies are accepted
- Download links are not accepted
- Undergraduate transcripts may not be submitted in lieu of graduate transcripts
- First year students: Submit your transcripts even though they might not yet have grades. The transcript must show that you are currently enrolled and list all in-progress classes
Candidates enrolled in a dual undergraduate-graduate program are eligible if they meet the following requirements.
- They will have earned the equivalent of their bachelor’s degree by May 2027
- They are currently enrolled in graduate-level coursework as of fall 2026
Candidates whose applications are complete and meet the requirements will be reviewed by the program administration review committee. Candidates remaining under consideration will be asked to complete a phone screen. Those remaining under consideration after the phone screen will be invited to complete a virtual panel interview with St. Jude leaders.
Offers will be extended from December 2026 – January 2027. All other applicants will be notified of their status by mid-January 2027.
Unsolicited resumes to the program administration team are not accepted. All applications must be submitted through the application portal.
Candidates will be evaluated on a variety of factors including education experience, leadership experience, and past work or internship experience, as well as how their goals and interests align with what St. Jude is able to offer the student cohort.