Austin Synoground - St. Judes Research Hospital (JD/MHA '27)

Hi folks!

My name is Austin Synoground, and this summer I had the great pleasure of serving as a remote legal intern with the Office of Legal Services at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

St. Jude is a truly unique organization. Founded in 1962 by Danny Thomas, the mission of the hospital is to prevent and cure pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Whereas most hospitals fund operations through patient service revenue, government reimbursements, and private insurance payments, St. Jude relies primarily on public and private donations. These donations allow the hospital to provide life-saving medical care to 9,000 patients annually, and the families of those patients never have to pay for treatment, travel, housing or food.  

Like the hospital, the Office of Legal Services is one-of-a-kind. Professional, clever, kind, the team is exactly what you would hope to see in a children’s hospital. With nearly twenty attorneys, the legal team’s deep experience and broad expertise reflects St. Jude’s identity as a pediatric hospital, academic institution, and premier research facility. As one of two legal interns, I benefited from this wide legal exposure, accepting dozens of projects related to contract review, labor and employment, data privacy, legal guardianship, clinical research, and other issues common to in-house hospital work. My supervisor, Tess Cobb, was a constant source of support and guidance. Thanks to her mentorship, I learned more than I ever thought possible in my ten weeks at the hospital. 

Many of my short-term projects came from on-call attorneys. At St. Jude, each attorney spends two weeks of the year carrying the Legal Phone and fielding questions from every corner of the hospital. Many calls relate to decision-making authority. In these cases, I would assess state-specific legal document, such as powers of attorney, advanced directives, and court orders to see which family member or legal guardian could make decisions for a patient who was underage or non compos mentis. Answering these questions was personally satisfying, because I knew there was someone on the other end of the phone who wanted to help a patient, but needed legal guidance to do it. 

My longer-term projects focused on answering regulatory and compliance questions. For one project, I found language identified key language in the internal investigation policies from St. Jude’s peer institutions for an attorney seeking to create a new policy for the hospital. In another project, I wrote a formal memorandum on updated accreditor guidance for “dry lab” bioinformatics under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988. My research was used to reassess departmental guidance from four years ago and helped an attorney with a paper he is co-authoring with a physician. These assignments taught me how dense the web of laws, regulations, and accreditation requirements can be for health care entities, and how essential it is for legal professionals to work with clinicians and hospital leaders on matters large and small.

One of the best parts of my internship was visiting the St. Jude campus in Memphis, Tennessee. Over one week, I ate lunch with the attorneys in the Kay Kafe, toured the Danny Thomas Pavilion, admired the patient artwork in the hallways, and smiled at all the children being pulled in red wagons by their parents. These moments brightened my day, broke the monotony of reading legal code, and confirmed my decision to become a hospital attorney. 

Outside of my internship, I’ve enjoyed exploring Iowa’s state parks and natural spaces. Weekend trips to the Mines of Spain, Palisades State Park, and the Maquoketa Caves have brought much needed greenery to my days. Iowa City also puts on many summer events, such as the Iowa Arts Festival, Jazz Fest, and weekly outdoor movies. To all the future interns who are lucky enough to work around the University, you have many beautiful sights awaiting you.  

St. Jude is an institution that valiantly pursues its mission. It’s a place filled with life and love and a resilience that borders on the miraculous. I will forever remember my time at St. Jude with the greatest appreciation and gratitude. May no child die in the dawn of life.