12 Medical Programs for High School Students in Delaware
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
If you’re a high school student interested in medicine, participating in a structured medical program can help you move beyond classroom biology and gain early exposure to how healthcare and medical science work in real settings. These programs often introduce you to college-level coursework, learning, and professional expectations without the time or financial commitment required by long-term pre-med tracks. Through labs, simulations, shadowing, or guided coursework, you begin to build practical skills such as scientific reasoning, data interpretation, and professional communication.
What medical programs are available for high schoolers in Delaware?
Medical programs in Delaware range from university-led summer initiatives and hospital-based exposure programs to research-focused experiences and healthcare skill-building workshops. Many programs in the state include laboratory work, clinical observation, anatomy or physiology coursework, public health projects, and interactions with medical professionals. Some programs focus on academic enrichment, while others emphasize career exploration or community health engagement.
To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of 12 medical programs for high school students in Delaware.
If you’re looking for summer programs in Delaware, check out our blog here.
Location: Beebe Healthcare facilities across Sussex County
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline:
Summer program: March 1 to May 1
School year high school and college program: May 1 to August 1
Program dates:
Summer Student Program: June to August
School Year High School Program: Starts after August onboarding
Eligibility: Students age 14 or older
Beebe Healthcare’s Student Volunteer Program offers students ages 14 and up the chance to gain firsthand experience in a real healthcare setting while giving back to the community. As a volunteer, you may greet patients and visitors, assist staff with non-clinical tasks, and help create a welcoming environment across Beebe’s facilities. The program is well-suited for students exploring a future in healthcare and seeking practical experience and professional connections. Volunteers serve as community ambassadors, assisting patients, visitors, and staff with daily tasks. Overall, the program offers insight into hospital operations and enhances communication, accountability, and service skills.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program type; financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort. You can apply here.
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school; students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement (Note: accepted students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4); no previous knowledge of your field of interest is required.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a selective, 12-week research experience for high school students interested in academic research, including medical and health-related fields. You are paired one-on-one with a PhD mentor and work independently to design and execute an original research project, which may focus on biomedical science, public health, neuroscience, or data-driven medical research, depending on your interests and your mentor's availability. The program mirrors real academic research by guiding you through the process of formulating a research question, reviewing the literature, conducting analysis or experimentation, and interpreting results. Rather than following preset coursework, you focus on critical thinking, research methodology, and scientific writing. The program concludes with a full research paper to help you understand the expectations for college-level and pre-med or research-focused pathways. This experience is especially valuable if you want early exposure to how medical research is conducted in academic settings.
Location: Various sites across the tri state region of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: February 27
Program dates: June 15 to August 7
Eligibility: Students age 16 or older by the start date who have completed their sophomore year of high school
The Nemours Children’s Health High School Program is a competitive summer volunteer opportunity that provides high school students with firsthand experience in a pediatric hospital setting. As a volunteer, you’ll support hospital staff through age-appropriate assignments across various departments, many of which involve interacting with patients and their families. Your work directly improves the care experience for children from birth through age 18, as well as their parents and siblings. Placements are determined by the Volunteer Services team through a lottery system based on hospital needs and available openings. The program emphasizes professionalism, communication, and empathy, with all students expected to follow Nemours’ Standards of Behavior.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Stipend: Varies by program type. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Highly selective
Application deadline: Rolling admissions
Program dates: Multiple 10 week cohorts offered during spring, summer, fall, and winter
Eligibility: High school students. Applicants need completion of the AI Scholars program or prior experience with Python.
The Veritas AI Deep Dive: AI + Medicine is a 10-week program designed for high school students interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. Founded and run by Harvard graduate students, the program introduces you to how AI and machine learning are applied in medical settings. You’ll work through expert-led lectures, programming notebooks, and a hands-on project focused on real-world healthcare applications. Projects may involve using AI models to diagnose diseases, enhance medical imaging, or interpret results to support clinical decision-making. The program also explores broader applications such as genomics, hospital operations, drug discovery, and neuroscience, offering a practical look at how AI is shaping modern medicine.
Location: Hospitals across Delaware
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: Applications open each fall
Program dates: Not specified
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors enrolled in any high school in Delaware
Apollo: Youth in Medicine is a free, student-run program that gives high school students direct exposure to the medical field through physician shadowing, mentorship, and educational sessions. You will shadow licensed physicians across 17 medical specialties, gaining firsthand insight into patient care, clinical environments, and medical decision-making. The program begins with a mandatory educational session on medical career pathways, ethics, and HIPAA, preparing students for clinical settings. Shadowing opportunities are coordinated through Apollo’s internal matching system, allowing students to access placements multiple times throughout the year. Optional seminars and enhanced experiences further introduce students to medical research and healthcare topics.
Location: Various sites across Delaware
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline:
Spring: November 1 to 15
Summer: March 1 to 15
Fall: July 1 to 15
Program dates:
Spring: January 15 to April 15
Summer: May 15 to August 15
Fall: September 15 to December 15
Eligibility: High school students and other students enrolled at any academic institution
The Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association Student Internship Program places you in a real-world public health environment, where you support community health initiatives through data collection, outreach, and program implementation. You’ll learn how public health problems are defined, how programs are designed and evaluated, and how data and communication shape health policy and practice. The internship emphasizes analytical thinking, project planning, and cross-disciplinary collaboration across health sciences, policy, economics, and communications. You will gain practical experience working with both qualitative and quantitative data, creating logic models, and applying public health theories to real-world initiatives. By the program's end, you’ll be equipped to analyze public health issues and communicate data-driven insights effectively in writing. This makes it an excellent opportunity for students aiming to build their resumes in public health, policy, or community healthcare fields.
Location: Program sites include Christiana Hospital in Newark, Wilmington Hospital in Wilmington, and Union Hospital in Elkton
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: Not specified
Program dates: June 16 to August 15, based on the previous program cycle
Eligibility: Current high school students who have completed 9th grade and are ages 14 to 18
The ChristianaCare Summer VolunTeen Program is a community service opportunity for students ages 14–18 interested in contributing to a healthcare environment. Volunteers support patients, families, and staff across multidisciplinary areas of the health system, gaining exposure to how a large medical organization operates. Roles may include assisting with patient-facing services, administrative support, and hospital operations, depending on placement and need. Through supervised service, students build communication, teamwork, and responsibility while giving back to their community. The program emphasizes professionalism, service learning, and early exposure to healthcare settings.
Location: Willard Hall Education Building at University of Delaware, Newark
Cost: $1,995. Scholarships and discounts available
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: June 8
Program dates: June 22 to June 26
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with at least one biology or general science credit
This one-week, noncredit program introduces high school students to real-world forensic science through hands-on laboratory work and crime scene investigation. Led by University of Delaware faculty and practicing forensic experts, you’ll learn core techniques used in biomedical forensics, laboratory medicine, and criminal investigations. You will work in teams to analyze evidence, visit crime labs or investigation units, and understand how forensic data supports criminal cases. The program concludes with a capstone where you present a forensic report suitable for court to professionals from Delaware’s forensic and law enforcement community. Participants additionally get a reference letter and a digital badge for college applications.
Location: University of Delaware main campus, Newark
Cost: $2,000. Discount available
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: April 29
Program dates: June 22 to June 26
Eligibility: Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in neuroscience or related fields such as psychology, biology, or medicine
This immersive, weeklong noncredit program introduces high school students to college-level neuroscience through hands-on experiments and guided research in the University of Delaware’s state-of-the-art labs. You’ll study core topics such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, brain imaging, and behavioral science while learning how neuroscientists design experiments and analyze data. Faculty members and PhD students mentor small groups, offering insight into research pathways and careers in neuroscience, psychology, biology, and pre-med. The experience concludes with a team-based capstone project in which you present your findings to neuroscience experts, and participants receive a personalized reference letter and a digital badge.
Location: Online
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified. Merit based admissions
Application deadline: March 16
Program dates: Varies by program session
Eligibility: Middle school, junior high, and high school students
The Delaware Youth Medical Academy (DYMA) is a merit-based enrichment program for middle, junior, and high school students who are Delaware residents or live within one hour of the state border. The program is structured as a themed series of five to six evening sessions that introduce you to core medical and public health topics through interactive learning. By completing a full series and a required reflection paper, you can earn DYMA membership and access ongoing academic recognition and resources. As you progress through multiple series, you unlock benefits such as mentorship with medical students and healthcare professionals, resume and CV workshops, and opportunities to attend professional medical conferences. The program also offers hands-on clinical skills training, certifications such as Seizure First Aid, and guided hospital tours to help you explore real-world healthcare settings.
Location: Online
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: February 2
Program dates: June 1 to June 5 or June 8 to June 12
Eligibility: High school students in the United States
This two-week summer internship introduces rising 10th–12th graders to research and clinical careers at a major academic medical center. You’ll engage with clinician-scientists working in areas such as genetics, neuroscience, biochemistry, clinical research, and mental health, while learning how research moves from the lab to real-world patient care. Through interactive sessions, seminars, and guided readings, you’ll explore how experiments are designed, adapted, and applied in large medical institutions. The program also highlights diverse mental health careers, with professionals like psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, physician assistants, and clinical social workers sharing their daily work and career journeys.
Location: Virtual
Cost / Stipend: None
Acceptance rate / Cohort size: Not specified
Application deadline: February 9
Program dates: June 15 to July 23. Sessions held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
The Mary S. Easton Center at UCLA Neuroscience High School Scholars Program is a six-week virtual summer program that introduces high school students to neuroscience with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. You participate in structured three-hour sessions, three days a week, featuring live seminars on brain science, neurodegeneration, and public health challenges. The program includes Neurology Grand Rounds, journal clubs, and virtual lab activities that teach you how neuroscientists study the brain and nervous system. You interact with UCLA faculty, clinicians, and researchers via guest lectures and discussions about careers in neuroscience and medicine. The program concludes with a final research project, during which you explore a neuroscience topic of your choice and present your findings.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned an A.B. in Statistics. 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.
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