15 Healthcare Opportunities for High School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 1 hour ago
- 12 min read
If you're interested in medicine, public health, nursing, biomedical science, or other healthcare fields, participating in a healthcare-focused opportunity can help you explore these interests beyond the classroom. These programs introduce you to different areas of healthcare while helping you build skills in scientific thinking, communication, problem-solving, and professional collaboration. They also provide opportunities to learn from healthcare professionals, researchers, and mentors who can offer insight into a wide range of medical careers.
Why should I participate in a healthcare opportunity in high school?
Healthcare opportunities allow you to gain a better understanding of how medical and health-related professions contribute to patient care, research, and public health. Depending on the program, you will conduct research, shadow healthcare professionals, attend workshops, explore medical specialties, participate in clinical simulations, or learn about healthcare systems and biomedical science. These experiences can help you explore potential career paths, develop relevant skills, and determine whether a future in healthcare aligns with your interests and goals.
To make things easier for you, we’ve put together a list of 15 healthcare opportunities for high school students.
If you’re looking for programs for middle school students, check out our blog here.
Key takeaways
These opportunities span clinical shadowing and internships (Y.O.U. Internship, MAHEC MMMP, KP LAUNCH), hands-on simulation programs (Georgetown Medical Academy, Wake Forest Medicine Institute, Harvard MEDscience Dental), biomedical research (Lumiere, BEAT Academy, Penn Microbiology Academy), and career exploration camps (MAHEC Project PROMISE, Camp Med, Hudson Mohawk MASH Camp).
Several programs are free or include financial support, including Y.O.U. Internship (stipend provided), KP LAUNCH ($23 per hour), MAHEC MMMP (free), LAPS Summer Medical Career Program (free with a $500 scholarship), and Camp Med (free).
Many programs are geographically restricted to local or regional students, including MAHEC MMMP (select North Carolina counties), KP LAUNCH (Northern California Kaiser Permanente service areas), Hudson Mohawk MASH Camp (10-county region in New York), and Camp Med (17-county Northwest AHEC region in North Carolina).
Program lengths vary significantly, from single-day events (Hudson Mohawk MASH Camp) and four-day camps (MAHEC Project PROMISE) to multi-week internships (Y.O.U. Internship at six weeks, MAHEC MMMP at one semester) and three-week academic programs (Penn Microbiology Academy).
Several programs offer tangible academic or professional outputs, including Quinnipiac's Healthcare Career Exploration Academy (up to two transferable college credits and CPR and first aid certifications), Lumiere (an independent research paper), and Camp Med (a certificate of completion).
Location: Multiple internship placement sites
Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Typically starts on June 16 (6 weeks, 20 – 25 hours/week)
Application Deadline: April 1
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10 – 12 with a GPA of 3.0 or higher; age 14 – 18 years; must be a resident of Cuyahoga County
Youth Opportunities Unlimited is designed for high school students interested in healthcare, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and veterinary science. Over the program, you will have to complete about 120 hours at a placement site matched to your interests, along with virtual professional skills training sessions held after school and on weekends from March to August. You will be placed at organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic, Hudec Dental, CVS, and Lake Humane Society, and will also complete reflection assignments, a career research project, and a final presentation to connect your real-world experience with structured learning.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on the program type; full financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring; options range from 12 weeks to 1 year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort; Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), Winter (November). You can find more details about the application here.
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program allows you to participate in a structured research experience alongside a Ph.D. mentor. Over roughly 12 weeks, with some cohorts running longer, you work on an independent research project from start to finish. You can choose from a wide range of fields, including physics, psychology, economics, chemistry, engineering, data science, computer science, and international relations. Throughout the experience, you learn how to develop a research question, assess sources, and improve your academic writing. Your project concludes with a research paper that presents your findings. You also become eligible for a UCSD Extended Studies credit.
Location: Asheville, NC (with rotations at Mission Health and the Western Carolina Medical Society)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: 1 semester (runs during Fall or Spring)
Application Deadline: March 20
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors who maintain a minimum 3.0 weighted GPA and attend specific local schools in Asheville, Buncombe County, or Henderson County; international students living outside these local school districts are not eligible to apply
The MAHEC Medical Mentoring Program takes place during the school semester and allows you to leave campus each afternoon to gain real-world experience in clinical settings. Over the course of the program, you complete about 135 hours of observation, shadowing doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals across multiple specialties. You rotate through hospitals, clinics, and community care settings, which helps you understand how different parts of the healthcare system work together. Alongside this, you attend talks from healthcare professionals and also spend time on college planning or community service. The program is structured to build your experience step by step while still fitting within your school schedule, and it also offers the opportunity to earn honors-level class credit for shadowing in real hospital environments.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on the program type; full financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including spring, summer, fall, and winter
Application Deadline: Rolling. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November). You can apply here.
Eligibility: High school students. AI Fellowship applicants should either have completed the AI Scholars program or exhibit experience with AI concepts or Python.
Veritas AI is an AI program for ambitious high school students, founded and run by Harvard graduate students. In the AI + Medicine Deep Dive, students learn how AI is used in the healthcare and medical industry. Students get a chance to work on real-world projects using AI & ML models to diagnose diseases, sharpen medical scans, and explain their outcomes to aid doctors and patients.
Location: Kaiser Permanente medical centers and business offices in Northern California, USA
Cost/Stipend: Free; Stipend $23 per hour
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 15 – July 31
Application Deadline: January 9
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 to 19 who live permanently in a Northern California Kaiser Permanente service area are eligible to apply. International students can also apply, but only if they have legal authorization to work in the United States.
Kaiser Permanente’s KP LAUNCH program is a paid summer experience in which you work 40 hours a week in a healthcare setting, taking on administrative roles in hospitals or business offices to understand how large medical systems operate behind the scenes. Alongside your work, you attend weekly workshops focused on communication and workplace skills, and mentors support you throughout the program as you explore different healthcare career paths. You can also earn a competitive hourly wage, making it both a learning experience and a professional introduction to how major healthcare organizations function.
Location: University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville) & MAHEC campuses, Asheville, NC
Cost: Free Acceptance rate/Cohort size: Selective, small-cohort program
Dates: July 19 – 22
Application Deadline: May 4
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors registered in a Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, or Yancey county public school should have a minimum weighted GPA of 3.0
MAHEC Project PROMISE Camp is a 4-day, 3-night summer program for rural high school students interested in healthcare careers. It takes place at the UNC Asheville and MAHEC campuses, where students stay in dorms and participate in hands-on medical activities, simulations, workshops, and facility visits. The camp also includes sessions with healthcare professionals, exposure to various medical careers, and interactive experiences such as team-building activities and a ropes course. Overall, it is designed to give students early, practical insight into the healthcare field while building interest, confidence, and awareness of future medical pathways.
Location: Various medical facilities across Los Angeles County and adjacent counties, California, USA (with virtual and in-person options)
Cost: Free; $500 scholarship
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Varies by facility and format
Application Deadline: February 13
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors (grades 11 and 12) who are at least 16 years old and reside in Los Angeles County or its adjacent counties; international students living outside this specific region are not eligible to apply
The LAPS program combines virtual sessions with in-person experiences to introduce students to a range of medical specialties. Each day, healthcare professionals guide you through their work in areas such as pediatric surgery, radiology, infectious disease, and emergency care, often using real cases or procedures to make the learning more practical and engaging. You are encouraged to ask questions and learn about their career paths to better understand how they reached their current roles. Over time, the program helps you see how different specialties connect within the broader healthcare system and how responsibilities vary across medical professions.
Location: Multiple sites in New York (including Albany, Glens Falls, Johnstown, and Ticonderoga)
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Varies
Application Deadline: Typically in Spring
Eligibility: Students entering grades 8–12 in the 10-county HM AHEC region
The one-day program is a brief experience in which students explore healthcare careers through interactions with professionals and educators in clinical settings. You take part in hands-on simulations and demonstrations that introduce basic healthcare practices and procedures, while also learning about different career pathways, training requirements, and real-world responsibilities in the health sector. The program also provides guidance on academic preparation for future college-level health programs, helping you understand what it takes to pursue a career in healthcare.
Location: Online and In-person options available
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 1 – 31
Application Deadline: March 28
Eligibility: 9th to 12th graders who live in one of the 17 counties in the Northwest AHEC Region
Camp Med is a healthcare career exploration program for high school students that introduces you to a variety of medical fields and helps you understand different career paths in healthcare. It is offered in both in-person and virtual formats, with the online version requiring 20 hours of coursework to earn a certificate of completion. Instead of a fixed syllabus, you can choose from different activity modules based on your interests, allowing a more flexible learning experience. Through these activities, you build a basic understanding of healthcare, gain exposure to medical topics and professions, and clarify whether pursuing a future in medicine or related fields is the right path for you.
Location: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Cost: Residential Tuition & Meals: $4,120 | Commuter Tuition: $3,490
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Session I: June 21 – 27 | Session II: July 5 – 11 | Session III: July 12 – 18
Application Deadline: April 15
Eligibility: Current high school students with a minimum 2.0 GPA
The Georgetown 1-Week Medical Academy introduces high school students to the foundations of medicine through a combination of lectures, labs, and clinical simulations. Over the course of the week, you explore key topics such as anatomy, radiology, physiology, surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and biomedical ethics. You also take part in hands-on skill sessions, including suturing, casting, ultrasound practice, dissections, and work with high-fidelity patient simulators. In addition, the program offers direct interaction with Georgetown medical students, faculty, and physicians, giving you insight into medical training and clinical careers. Group discussions, lab work, and off-site experiences further help you understand what studying and working in medicine involves.
Location: Boston, MA
Cost: $2,800
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: August 3 – 7
Application Deadline: January 1
Eligibility: Students in grades 9–12 who have not completed other MEDscience programs
Harvard Medical School MEDscience Dental is a five-day program that introduces students to the connection between medicine and dentistry through clinical simulation experiences. You train in Harvard’s medical simulation lab, where you work through patient cases that focus on oral health and its link to overall health. The program includes exposure to basic dental procedures, use of dental tools, and guidance from practicing dentists and dental students. It emphasizes diagnostic thinking, hands-on skill development, and an understanding of the academic pathway toward a career in dentistry.
Location: UT Health San Antonio, Lozano Long Campus, San Antonio, TX
Cost: $1,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive; 20 students
Dates: July 13 – 17
Application Deadline: June 20
Eligibility: High school students interested in healthcare and biomedical research
The BEAT Academy introduces students to medicine and biomedical research through a combination of lectures, hands-on experiments, and interactive learning activities. You explore topics such as anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, aging, and neurodegeneration while taking part in lab work and learning about modern biomolecular technologies. The program also includes exposure to simulated and real patient scenarios, visits to anatomy labs, and insights into ongoing medical research. Alongside this, you participate in college-preparation sessions that support your future planning for health or medicine. Working in small groups, you collaborate on projects, discussions, and mentorship activities that help you understand what a career in healthcare involves, and you earn a certificate of completion at the end of the program.
Location: Winston-Salem, NC (Wake Forest University Reynolda Campus)
Cost/Stipend: $3,500 + $60 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 5 – 10 | July 19 – 24
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Current 9th–12th grade students in good academic standing and with no school suspensions
The Wake Forest Medicine Institute is a weeklong program that introduces students to clinical practice and the broader field of healthcare through hands-on learning and real medical exposure. You participate in lab simulations, skill-based workshops, and visits to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where you learn foundational clinical skills, including measuring blood pressure, performing basic physical exams, using ultrasound equipment, and suturing. The program also includes guest lectures, medical student panels, and guided sessions exploring specialties such as internal medicine, cardiology, neurology, pulmonology, and surgery. Alongside this, you tour the Wake Forest School of Medicine, observe medical technologies in action, and interact with healthcare professionals across various departments to better understand how different areas of medicine function together.
Location: Hamden, CT
Cost/Stipend: $3,700 (overnight) | $2,700 (commuter)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – 17
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students entering grades 10–12 or recent graduates
In this program, you will explore a variety of healthcare careers through hands-on activities and interactive learning. You will practice clinical skills such as suturing, gait training, orthotics, and basic lab techniques, while also earning certifications in CPR, First Aid, Stop the Bleed, and Teen Mental Health First Aid. You will gain exposure to real medical environments through a visit to the Hartford Hospital simulation center and have the opportunity to earn up to two transferable college credits. Through workshops and guided sessions, you will also learn how different healthcare professions work together in real-world healthcare settings.
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $10,050 + $100 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 11 – August 1
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Current 9th–11th grade students who have completed one year of high school biology
The Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Academy introduces students to key areas of biology and public health, including microbiology, immunology, genetics, and epidemiology. Through daily lectures and guided discussions, you explore how pathogens work, how disease outbreaks are tracked, and how public health responses are developed. The program also includes hands-on lab work, visits to biomedical research facilities, and case studies on major infectious diseases. You collaborate with peers to analyze data, review scientific research, and learn from guest speakers working in virology, microbiology, and epidemiology. It concludes with a final project where you create a public service announcement and lead a discussion on a selected epidemic.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best healthcare opportunities for high school students?
Strong options depend on a student's interests. Students drawn to clinical environments might consider the MAHEC Medical Mentoring Program or KP LAUNCH; those interested in biomedical research might look at the Lumiere Research Scholar Program or BEAT Academy; and those exploring healthcare careers broadly might consider the MAHEC Project PROMISE Camp or Georgetown's Medical Academy.
Are there free healthcare opportunities for high school students?
Yes, several programs are free, including MAHEC MMMP, MAHEC Project PROMISE Camp, LAPS Summer Medical Career Program (which also offers a $500 scholarship), Hudson Mohawk MASH Camp, Camp Med, and KP LAUNCH, which also pays students $23 per hour.
Which programs involve actual clinical shadowing or hospital exposure?
MAHEC MMMP places students in hospitals and clinics for about 135 shadowing hours; KP LAUNCH places students in Kaiser Permanente medical centers; Y.O.U. Internship places students at organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic; and Georgetown Medical Academy, Wake Forest Medicine Institute, and Quinnipiac's Healthcare Academy all include visits to active medical facilities or simulation centers.
Are there healthcare programs for high schoolers that include AI or technology in medicine?
Yes, Veritas AI's AI + Medicine Deep Dive focuses specifically on how machine learning models are used to diagnose diseases and analyze medical imaging, while Stanford AIMI (listed in related programs) also covers AI applications in healthcare.
Do any healthcare programs for high school students offer college credit?
Yes, Quinnipiac's Healthcare Career Exploration Academy offers up to two transferable college credits, and Lumiere Research Scholar Program participants become eligible for UCSD Extended Studies credit upon completion of their research project.
When should I apply to healthcare opportunities for high school students?
Deadlines vary widely. Early deadlines include Harvard MEDscience Dental (January 1) and KP LAUNCH (January 9), while others, such as BEAT Academy (June 20) and several rolling-admissions programs like Georgetown Medical Academy and Wake Forest Medicine Institute, accept applications through the spring and early summer.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.