My name is Molly Piccione and I am from Babylon, NY. I studied Exercise Physiology at the University of Miami and came on the Career Israel internship program shortly thereafter to spend time living and learning abroad before I go to medical school.
I have two internships here in Tel Aviv. The first is in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center in Tel Hashomer Hospital, and the second is at Save A Child’s Heart. Coming from an Exercise Physiology background, my original purpose at the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center was to assist with patient care on the floor, but recently I have had the opportunity to get involved in research. I just began a project of data organization from past patients in order to establish a database for future studies.
My second internship here is volunteering at Save A Child’s Heart. SACH is a non-profit organization that works in conjunction with the Wolfson Hospital to bring children, and a parent when possible, to Israel for life-saving heart surgery. They also provide pre- and post-surgery consultations as well as living accommodations at no cost to the families during their stay in Israel.
One of my favorite things about both Tel Hashomer and SACH is the hands-on experience I’m getting with patients. As a future medical student (hopefully) it is incredible to interact directly with the type of patients to whom I will hopefully spend my career attending. Also, being in Israel has helped me learn a lot about my identity as a Jew and how I want to incorporate that into my professional and personal future, and I am thoroughly enjoying learning more about modern-day Israel.
As such, my favorite Career Israel seminar was the Religion and State Seminar where we heard three different perspectives of the current situation of Judaism and its relation to the State of Israel.
