Guest author: Helina Iyob-Tessema, completed her internship at dfusion for her graduate studies in Master of Public Health at San Jose State University while also working as a pediatric dental resident with the University of California San Francisco.
Who is dfusion?
dfusion is a social and behavioral science R&D firm that creates innovative science-driven solutions to advance health and well-being. Their expertise includes informative videos and games for communities that could benefit from extra support including patients with autism & intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), LGBTQIA+, sex educators, among others. Their office is based in Scotts Valley, California but their projects recruit individuals from across the US. The specific project I am working on is focused on improving access to dental care for children autism and IDD. The project works in conjunction with teams from the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) Inclusive Care Clinic and Pediatric Dental Clinic. The goal of this project is to create an online library of videos that will teach dental professionals (general dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, etc) skills that can improve their care for children with IDD.
How the Internship Came About?
The internship came about in a very serendipitous way! I along my cohort spent last fall feverishly applying to internships hoping to land something that aligned with my interests, but ultimately grateful for any opportunity I could get. I originally applied to a posting from dfusion for another project when my soon-to be preceptor personally emailed me saying that the original project I applied to already met their staffing needs. However, there was this upcoming dental project they were starting that she felt I would be a better fit for. I remember when I got the email, I was double checking the inbox the email came from because it seemed too perfect that my SJSU MPH internship project could possibly align with my day job as a pediatric dental resident. I immediately jumped on a call with the team for an informal recruitment/interview session and I was on boarded later that week!
Adjusting and Expectations
I really enjoyed my time as a dfusion intern and I am grateful to work with a supportive team. At the time of my interview, I prefaced them with how hectic the first few months of 2026 would be for me as I balance my full-time job as a resident, MPH student, internship, as well as personal commitments with my upcoming wedding. However, I assured them that my breadth of experience working with pediatric patients as well as those with IDD would serve an invaluable role for their project. There have certainly been times in the last few months things have gotten very difficult to manage, but I am hoping to get better with balancing everything out. Thankfully because the team I work with lives in different time zones, they are okay with me submitting work at odd hours of the night which is when I usually get around to completing my tasks.
First Experiences
Since being on the project early on, it has been very rewarding to see the fruits of my labor transition from words on a Word document to actual video coverage. My early experiences included creating lists of skillsets a general dentist (or other dental professionals) could learn to implement. As a pediatric dental resident, our training includes how to manage patients with special medical and/or behavioral needs. Moreover, we are often responsible for managing their care into adulthood since treating patients with special needs is something most general dentists or other dental specialists do not want to do. Unfortunately, there is a need for more skilled dental professionals to be trained in managing patients with special needs since there is so much need in the population. The list of critical skills our team agreed on was then produced into scripts for the video library, which in turn became recruitment of actors and eventually a recent media day where all the scenes were shot in Chicago! In addition to creating a list of the skills, I also assisted with reviewing the scripts to ensure they were both medically accurate and appropriate for demonstrating the skills we were aiming for. Our next set of tasks is recruitment of patients/parents of patients with IDD as well as dental professionals for focus groups and conducting interviews to obtain more information on what their needs are. I look forward to expanding on my experiences with dfusion which will certainly positively impact both my SJSU internship goals and professional development as a pediatric dentist.
