14 Medical Programs for High School Students in Amherst, MA
- Stephen Turban
- Mar 16
- 8 min read
If you are considering a future in healthcare, a good way to explore that interest is through structured medical programs. Medical programs for high schoolers show you how science connects to patient care, research, and community health. You might learn laboratory methods, study disease patterns, observe how medical teams function, or take part in skill-based workshops. You get direct exposure to how the field operates, which can help you decide your future academic path.
What medical programs are available for high school students in Amherst, Massachusetts?
Amherst and its surrounding region offer medical programs for high schoolers through universities, research institutes, and healthcare organizations. You can explore biomedical research, patient care fundamentals, health science topics, and foundational clinical methods. Most programs include practical components and mentorship from instructors or professionals. These experiences help you build confidence, explore your interests early, and complete projects you can reference in your college applications.
With that, here are 14 medical programs for high school students in Amherst, MA!
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies by the program. Full financial aid is available
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer (June – August), Fall (September – December), Winter (December – February), and Spring (March – June).
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort.
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a selective, one-on-one research mentorship where you work with a PhD-level mentor on an independent project. If you’re interested in medicine, you can use the program to explore a topic in biology, public health, neuroscience, psychology, or another health-related field and turn it into a real research paper. The work is structured around the parts of research that actually matter: reading academic literature, narrowing a question, choosing a method, analyzing information, and writing in a clean academic format. Since it’s remote, you can do it from Amherst without needing lab access, and still come out with something concrete that looks like early research training rather than a short course. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Location: Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Locust Street, Northampton, MA (near Ahmrest)
Cost: None
Program Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: No fixed deadlines
Eligibility: You must be at least 15 years old to volunteer at the hospital
Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s volunteer program gives you a direct view of how a hospital runs, even if you’re not doing clinical tasks. Volunteers usually help with front desk support, visitor navigation, departmental assistance, and other roles that keep hospital operations moving. That might sound simple, but it teaches you how patient flow works, how staff coordinate across departments, and how much healthcare depends on systems and communication.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by the program. Need-based financial aid is available for AI Scholars. You can apply here.
Program dates: Multiple 12-15-week cohorts throughout the year, including spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Application deadline: On a rolling basis. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November).
Eligibility: Ambitious high school students located anywhere in the world. 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. Across the program, you work through guided projects where you build and test AI and machine learning models on health-related problems. This can include tasks like improving scan quality, classifying medical images, and learning how models “decide” what they predict. A big part of the experience is also learning how to explain results clearly, since in medicine, a model is only useful if a doctor or patient can understand what it’s saying.
Location: Amherst Survival Center, Amherst, MA
Cost: None
Program Dates: Year-round
Application Deadline: No fixed deadlines
Eligibility: Open to high school students who are at least 14 years old
Amherst Survival Center is a local place where volunteering can give you real exposure to community health, even without a formal internship title. The center runs services that support people dealing with food insecurity, housing instability, and access to basic care, and that environment teaches you something important about healthcare that many pre-med programs skip. Your role will be more support-focused than clinical, but you still get to see how health needs show up in everyday life and how local services respond.
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Cost: To be confirmed on the official website
Dates: June 28 – July 11
Application Deadline: Rolling basis; early application recommended
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors
The Public Health Launchpad is a two-week deep dive into how public health systems work and how data shapes health decisions. You will learn the fundamentals of epidemiology, health data analysis, and how communities respond to health crises. The program includes hands-on activities where you work with real health data sets and learn to interpret trends that inform public policy. If you are curious about population health, disease prevention, or health policy as a career pathway, this program gives you a strong foundation before college.
Location: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Cost: $4,119: Residential; $2,299: Commuter
Dates: June 28 – July 11
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions through June 15
Eligibility: Open to rising high school students, generally 10th, 11th & 12th graders
UMass Amherst’s Kinesiology: Pathway to the Medical Professions program is a two-week pre-college experience that leans into the science behind human movement and health careers. You will learn the basics of physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, and injury prevention, with labs and activities built into the schedule. The program also connects those topics to medical career paths like physical therapy, sports medicine, and occupational therapy, so you’re not learning kinesiology in a vacuum.
Location: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Cost: Residential $12,813; Commuter $7,133
Program Dates: June 28 – August 8
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in March
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores and seniors with a grade of B (GPA 3.0) or higher in mathematics and science courses
University of Massachusetts Research Intensives is one of the few options on this list that puts you inside a real university lab for a full summer. You work with a faculty mentor and lab team, and your week is built around lab routines, research protocols, and the kind of careful data handling that biomedical research depends on. Depending on your placement, you might work in biology, biochemistry, psychology, or another research area tied to health science. It’s less about “learning what research is” and more about learning how research is actually done, including lab technique, documentation, and how teams move from a question to results.
Location: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Cost: Varies by credits
Program Dates: Various sessions from June to August
Application Deadline: Applications typically due around February 1
Eligibility: Open to high school students
UMass Amherst Pre-College Programs are broader than the research intensives, but they still matter if you want medical exposure through real college coursework. You can take classes in science and health-related areas, and you’ll get used to the pace and structure of a university class while you’re still in high school. Depending on the course, you may end up doing small projects, labs, or case-based assignments, which can help you build academic confidence before college.
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Cost: Residential approximately $4,000; Commuter option available
Dates: July 26 – August 8
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
This intensive two-week laboratory course immerses you in microbiology through the lens of antibiotic resistance. You will adopt a bacterial strain and conduct experiments to identify it and test its antibiotic-producing capabilities. Techniques you learn include DNA isolation, PCR, gel electrophoresis, Gram staining, and antibiotic resistance testing. The program connects laboratory science directly to global health challenges, showing how bacterial research informs treatment strategies in clinical settings.
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Cost: Residential approximately $3,800; Commuter and online options available
Dates: In-Person: June 28 – July 11; Online: June 29 – July 10
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
The Biostatistics and Epidemiology Lab introduces you to the quantitative side of public health. You will learn how epidemiologists track disease outbreaks, analyze health data, and make evidence-based decisions that affect populations. The program includes hands-on work with data sets, teaching you statistical methods used in clinical research and public health policy. This is a strong fit if you want to understand the numbers behind medical decisions or are considering a career in public health research.
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Cost: Residential approximately $3,800; Commuter option available
Dates: July 12 – July 25
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; early application recommended
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors
The Sports Performance program focuses on the science behind athletic training, injury prevention, and human performance optimization. You will learn strength development techniques, biomechanical analysis, and data-driven training methods used by professional sports teams. The program includes hands-on sessions in UMass training facilities where you practice fitness assessments and learn how sports medicine professionals work with athletes to prevent and recover from injuries.
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Cost: Residential approximately $4,000; Commuter option available
Dates: June 28 – July 11
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
The Pre-Veterinary Medicine program introduces you to the field of veterinary medicine through hands-on learning and clinical exposure. You will learn about animal anatomy, common veterinary procedures, and the path to becoming a veterinarian. The program includes activities with live animals and exposure to veterinary clinical settings, giving you a realistic preview of veterinary school and the daily work of animal healthcare professionals.
Location: Virtual
Cost: $1,725
Program Dates: Session 1: June 8 – June 19; Session 2: June 22 – July 3
Application Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: High school students aged between 14 and 18 years
The Stanford Clinical Neuroscience Immersion Experience is a 10-day virtual program designed for high school students interested in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. You will attend seminars led by Stanford faculty covering topics such as neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric disorders, and mental health research. In addition to lectures, you will collaborate in small groups to develop a capstone project that tackles real-world issues in neuroscience, culminating in a final presentation at the end of the program. This experience allows you to explore cutting-edge research, build teamwork skills, and gain insight into careers in clinical neuroscience and mental health.
Location: Online
Cost/Stipend: Fully funded
Dates: 2 sessions in June
Application Deadline: Early February
Eligibility: Rising 10th-12th graders who live either in the United States or on a U.S. armed forces base or diplomatic post
The UT Southwestern Inspiring Careers in Mental Health Internship is a two-week summer program for U.S. high school students who are interested in careers in psychology, psychiatry, or related fields. During the program, you will learn about mental health research and clinical practice while working with UT Southwestern faculty and clinicians. You will take part in hands-on projects in areas such as psychiatry, psychology, or neuroscience, gaining experience with research methods, data collection, and analysis. In addition, you will attend seminars focused on mental health topics, patient care, and career pathways in the field. The program concludes with you presenting your work to faculty members and fellow interns.
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.
Image Source - Veritas AI logo