Jalen interned at Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, as a Business Analyst Intern during both his freshman and junior year summers, improving clinical and financial outcomes for the company. As a freshman on the Patient and Provider Analytics team, he quickly stood out for his ownership mindset, technical depth, and ability to translate complex data into actionable strategy. Jalen built production-ready SQL data pipelines and Power BI dashboards that supported enterprise-scale analytics across more than 27.6 million members, helping reduce avoidable emergency room readmission costs, identify high-quality and low-cost providers, and support the shift toward value-based contracts, agreements that tie reimbursement to patient outcomes, quality of care, and cost efficiency rather than volume of services. His work sat at the intersection of data engineering, healthcare operations, and financial strategy, and was adopted by senior stakeholders for ongoing decision making.
Name: Jalen Patel
Class Year: Class of 2026
Major: Business and Computer Science
Internship: Centene Corporation
Internship Location: St. Louis, MO
Invited back as a junior to the Special Investigations Unit Engineering team, Jalen expanded his scope to analyzing large-scale healthcare claims datasets, writing and optimizing complex SQL queries, and automating decision-support reporting used by finance and compliance leaders. His analyses helped detect fraudulent claims and patterns of waste and abuse, preventing improper payouts and strengthening payment integrity controls. Jalen partnered closely with engineers, product managers, and senior leadership to design scalable and compliant analytics solutions within a highly regulated healthcare environment, strengthening his problem-solving, strategic thinking, and change management skills.
How did the Center for Career Engagement help you prepare for or succeed in this role?
The Center for Career Engagement helped me prepare by providing hands-on, individualized support throughout the process. I scheduled resume review appointments with career coaches that strengthened how I presented my skills and impact, which directly supported my success in securing and performing well in the role. I also made mock interview appointments to practice behavioral and technical questions, which helped me refine my responses and communicate my experiences more confidently.
What advice would you give other students looking for similar opportunities?
I would encourage students to start early, use campus resources like the Center for Career Engagement, and be intentional about how they tell their story. Scheduling resume reviews and mock interviews helps you clearly communicate your skills and experiences, which makes a big difference during recruiting. I would also recommend being open to learning on the job, asking questions, and taking initiative once you are in the role, since showing curiosity and ownership often leads to the most meaningful projects and growth.
Is there a memorable moment or highlight from your summer that stands out?
A memorable highlight from my summer was attending the week-long Centene Intern Summit at the company’s headquarters in St. Louis. It stood out because it brought over 150 interns together from across 31 states and offered direct exposure to senior leadership, including CEO Sarah London, as well as insights into different business units and Centene’s mission at scale. The summit helped me better understand how my team’s work fit into the broader organization and reinforced the real impact of our contributions beyond day to day projects. I also especially enjoyed the intern outings at Topgolf and the Foundry, which provided a fun, informal setting to connect with other interns and colleagues, build relationships, and strengthen a sense of community.
The Center for Career Engagement diligently collects data on student participation in various experiential learning opportunities. Students have an opportunity to opt in to participate in one of our student spotlight series, and we are excited to share their experiential learning narrative. Keep an eye out for our next spotlight feature.
Want to be featured for our Student Internship Spotlight? Contact Maria Bruns and share your career experience via WashU Career Insights.
