DAN Medical Research
Internship Program : 2009 Interns & Hosts

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• John Littlefield – Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), Bodrun, Turkey
• Ryan Patrylak - Scapa Flow, Scotland
• David Reilly – Divers Alert Network, Durham, NC
• Lana Christine Sielski – UNEXSO, Grand Bahama Island, The Bahama

	John Littlefield - John Littlefield graduated from the College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C., with a B.S. in anthropology. He is now working towards a Ph.D. in nautical archeology at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. For his internship Littlefield will be joining the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Kizilburun, Turkey, where he will participate in an ongoing underwater excavation of the Kizilburun shipwreck, discovered in 1993. While there, he will collect data for Project Dive Exploration. “A good diver is always learning,” said Littlefield, “and that is exactly what I would like to do with this internship: continue to learn about diving and [add] valuable data to the important and necessary research carried out by the DAN organization.”
	Ryan Patrylak – Ryan Patrylak is a senior at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., majoring in coastal studies. He is a rescue diver, with plans to become a dive instructor. Patrylak is this year’s Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society intern. “This internship will give me a better understanding of dive theory which I can apply towards my instructor certification,” he said. Patrylak plans to eventually pursue a master’s degree in a marine related field. This summer he will be collecting data with PDE field researcher Bobby Forbes investigating the underwater wrecks at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands off northern Scotland. Patrylak will be the fifth intern working in Scapa.
	David Reilly – David Reilly is a junior at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., majoring in chemistry. He previously served in the United States Navy, where he gained experience as a commercial diver. He then went on to work for the marine science department at the University of Connecticut and received certification as a scientific diver. Regarding the DAN Research Internship, Reilly has this to say: “My interest in medicine and, in particular, dive medicine, is leading me to pursue a career in this field. I feel this internship will help me better understand what the field has to offer and how to succeed in it.” Reilly will be working at DAN Headquarters in Durham, N.C., with Dr. Neal Pollock in the DAN Research department, conducting dive safety research.
	Lana Christine Sielski – Lana Sielski graduated from East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C., with degree in exercise physiology. A dive master and skin diving instructor, she has assisted during pool training exercises at ECU and also worked with teens at Seacamp, a marine science-oriented summer camp for teens in the Florida Keys. DAN has established a newly funded internship — the DAN Dive Safety Intern. Sielski is the first recipient of this new opportunity. Watch the various DAN publications to learn more about this internship. Sielski says she likes to share her love of scuba diving with others. “Diving is not solely a recreational sport for me,” she said. “The internship at DAN is an opportunity to help others realize how fascinating the sport is. It is an opportunity to expand the diving community and each individual’s knowledge of the sport in order to dive safely and responsibly.” Sielski will be collecting data at Ocean Frontiers on Grand Cayman. DAN has a long-standing relationship with Ocean Frontiers and Grand Cayman: Lana will be the sixth intern hosted by Ocean Frontiers and the tenth intern to work in the Cayman Islands.

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