LIFE DC Student to Intern at World Health Organization in Switzerland
by Pascious Prince
14th Quarter D.C. Student Aryn Gabai was recently selected to participate in a summer internship to study with the World Health Organization (WHO), an opportunity that has not only garnered excitement among his family and friends, but also the entire Life University Community.
Aryn first learned about the internship from a friend who’d attended the WCCS (World Congress of Chiropractic Students) Annual Conference. It was there that one of the speakers spoke of an amazing internship offered by the WHO. This bit of information was more than enough to peak Aryn’s interest and get his creative wheels turning. Shortly after, he contacted the agency and requested application materials for the coveted opportunity. Eight months later, Aryn was excited to learn that he’d been selected for the internship slated to begin in early July.
“The reason I considered (the internship) is that chiropractic is a little bit limited in its current position because of its foothold in the United States, and not the rest of the world. So, I had a somewhat bigger, broader perspective of what chiropractic can do for humanity…and so when I found out there was an opportunity for a chiropractor to go and study with what essentially is the premiere world organization for healthcare, it really was a great opportunity for me to blend my ideas and my vision,” says Aryn.
Aryn will travel to the WHO’s international headquarters, located in Geneva, Switzerland, where he will spend much of the summer (July through September) working in the organization’s department of traditional medicine (TM). This branch of the WHO studies the skills, practices, beliefs and medical traditions of various cultures throughout the world (particularly, as it relates to the maintenance of health and in the prevention and diagnosis of diseases of all kinds). Because TM is most often referred to as “alternative” or “complementary” medicine, it falls right in line with chiropractic.
Aryn is looking forward to participating in Life’s upcoming commencement ceremony on June 19, just a little more than a week before setting out for Switzerland. He will remain an active student of Life University while fulfilling the internship and will officially complete his degree when his time with the WHO ends in September.
As for his post-graduation plans, Aryn will join his father’s chiropractic clinics near Princeton, NJ. He hopes that the experience gained through the internship will increase his knowledge base, allowing him to more effectively serve patients there. “More than anything else, I want to go and I want to get some prospective. I want to learn what it is like to organize any sort of healthcare industry on a global scale,” says Aryn.
