14 Medical Programs for High School Students in Iowa
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
If you’re considering a future in healthcare, one of the most useful things you can do in high school is join a medical program! Medical programs give you early exposure to the kind of learning medicine requires and help you see whether the field matches your strengths and interests. It can include lab-based biology, anatomy lessons, clinical workshops, hospital exposure, or research projects. You may learn about different paths within healthcare, from medicine and nursing to public health, biomedical engineering, and research.
What medical programs are available for high school students in Iowa?
Iowa offers medical learning opportunities for high schoolers through universities, hospitals, and science-focused organizations. Some programs focus on research and lab work, while others offer clinical observation, healthcare simulations, or structured career exploration. Many also include mentorship, which can be especially valuable if you want guidance from people in the field. And because these programs give you concrete experiences, they also strengthen your college applications by showing initiative.
With that, here are 14 medical programs for high school students in Iowa!
Location: Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics (multiple locations, including Clarion and Belmond, Iowa)
Cost: Paid internship; no participation cost to students
Acceptance Rate: Not publicly disclosed; selective (not all applicants are interviewed)
Program Dates: June 1 – July 24
Program Deadline: February 6
Eligibility: Students 16 years or older entering junior year of high school or above
The Summer Intern Program (Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics) is a full-time, eight-week hospital placement where you spend your summer inside a working healthcare system. You will rotate across departments to see how different units operate and what different roles look like. The experience is more about exposure and professional habits than research, but you still get a realistic sense of hospital workflow, expectations, and communication. You also complete a final project, which forces you to reflect on what you saw and explain it clearly, which matters if you want to use the internship for applications later.
Location: Remote , you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available.
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort.
Program Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring. Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler. The program pairs high school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
Location: Iowa City, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited cohort; highly selective (exact rate not published)
Dates: April 17 (one-day event)
Application Deadline: Typically 4–6 weeks before the event (early spring)
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12); educators and industry mentors also participate
DesignDash (Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa) is a one-day sprint where you work like a tiny startup team inside a cancer center. You’ll work with other high schoolers, researchers, educators, and industry mentors to work on a cancer or healthcare problem. The work is fast and practical: define the problem, map the user, sketch a solution, and build a clear pitch that makes sense in a medical setting. Even though it’s short, you leave with a sharper idea of how cancer research turns into tools, workflows, and products that people actually use.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program format (financial aid available)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; cohort size not publicly disclosed
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: High school students with prior Python experience or completion of the AI Scholars program
Veritas AI’s AI + Medicine is built around one core idea: using machine learning on healthcare problems that look like real diagnostics and imaging tasks. You work through guided coding sessions and projects where you train or test models on medical-style data, then interpret the results the way you would need to in a clinical context. The program pushes you to explain what your model did and why it matters, which is a big part of health AI work that people ignore until they hit a wall. If you already know Python, this feels less like a class and more like a structured build, where the end goal is a working project you can actually talk about. Here is the program brochure and the application form.
Location: Des Moines, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited registration; selective due to space constraints
Dates: Every Tuesday evening in February (annual)
Application Deadline: Typically Late January
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12)
Mini Medical School (Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences) gives you an in-person taste of how medical training is taught, but scaled for high school. You will work with DMU faculty and medical students, learning about anatomy, clinical reasoning, and how doctors approach diagnosis. The structure is interactive, so you’re not sitting through lectures the whole time. You’re doing activities, asking questions, and seeing how medical thinking works when it’s broken down into steps.
Location: Ames, IA
Cost: Free (Tuition, room, and board covered by USDA; you pay travel)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Competitive; 16–20 students
Dates: July 13–26
Application Deadline: April 4
Eligibility: Students ages 15–17
AgDiscovery: Veterinary Medicine (Iowa State University) is a two-week immersion into animal science and medicine, funded by the USDA. You live on the Iowa State campus and spend your days at the College of Veterinary Medicine, the oldest public vet school in the U.S. The schedule is full of labs: you’ll perform necropsies (animal dissections), practice clinical skills like suturing, and run diagnostic tests in microbiology labs. If you are debating between human medicine and veterinary medicine, this gives you the realistic, messy, and technical exposure you need to decide.
Location: Iowa City, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; limited spots based on hospital needs
Dates: Summer session (typically June–August)
Application Deadline: Applications typically open in March (check the site frequently)
Eligibility: High school students ages 14–18 (must be 14 by start date)
UI Health Care Junior Volunteer Program (University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics) puts you inside Iowa’s only comprehensive academic medical center. Unlike research programs, this is purely clinical and service-focused. You will be assigned to specific units, guest services, discharge, or clinics, where you will interact with patients, families, and hospital staff. It’s about learning the rhythm of a massive hospital system. You see how different teams communicate, how patient flow works, and what the environment actually feels like, which is a critical experience before you commit to a pre-med track.
Location: Iowa City, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Limited spots; registration required
Dates: March 7
Application Deadline: Registration opens early spring
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12)
Teens Go STEM (University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine) is a short, hands-on event focused on health science careers and medical innovation. You will rotate through activities that show you what clinical and research work look like, often through simulations and guided demonstrations. The biggest value here is access: you’re in a real medical school environment, talking to people who are already training or working in healthcare. It’s especially useful if you want quick exposure to multiple paths, like medicine, nursing, research, and health tech, without applying for a full internship.
Location: Iowa City, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; limited number of student presenters accepted
Dates: February 23
Application Deadline: Typically late fall to early winter (exact date released annually)
Eligibility: High school students (grades 9–12)
High School Research Symposium (Belin-Blank Center, University of Iowa) is a research conference format for high schoolers. You apply to present your own work, then deliver it in a university setting where educators and researchers can ask questions and give feedback. You can work on a medicine project and practice how science and health research are shared in college: posters, short talks, Q&A, and explaining your methods clearly. If you already have a research project from school, a science fair, or an independent study, this is a strong way to turn it into something that feels more formal than a classroom presentation.
Location: Statewide virtual event hosted in Iowa
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No cap stated
Dates: May 14
Application Deadline: Registration required; deadline not publicly specified
Eligibility: Middle school and high school students in Iowa (Grades 6–12), registered through an educator
Health Sciences Career Day in Iowa is a statewide virtual event that puts working healthcare professionals in front of middle and high school classrooms. The sessions break down what the job looks like, what training is required, and how people move through the pipeline from school to hospital work. You also hear from a mix of roles, not only physicians, so it’s useful if you’re still figuring out where you fit. Since it’s run through schools, it’s easy to attend and works well as an early exposure event before you commit to a longer program.
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Interview-based selection
Dates: Year-round (summer and school year terms)
Application Deadline: Rolling (requires interview and health screening)
Eligibility: Students age 16+; requires 6-month commitment
The Student Volunteer Program (UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Hospital) treats you more like a new employee than a camper. You have to interview, pass a health screening, and commit to a regular weekly shift for at least six months or two semesters. You may be placed in high-traffic areas like the Emergency Department, nursing units, or physical therapy. The long-term commitment means you eventually become part of the team, allowing you to observe clinical interactions and patient care over time rather than just as a one-time visitor.
Location: Des Moines, IA (and other MercyOne locations)
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open application, subject to interview
Dates: Summer (June–August) and school year
Application Deadline: Rolling (summer interviews typically in spring)
Eligibility: Students age 16+ (some locations may accept 14+; check specific site)
MercyOne Junior Volunteer Program (MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center) offers a structured way to get clinical exposure in a major trauma center. You will assist staff and patients, rotating through patient transport, the information desk, or nursing floors. The program emphasizes professional responsibility: you are expected to show up on time, wear a uniform, and follow hospital protocols. For high schoolers, this is often the most accessible way to get "clinical hours" on a resume while seeing the reality of hospital work.
Location: Iowa City, IA
Cost: $7,500 (Residential); Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; approx. 40 students
Dates: June 17 – July 24
Application Deadline: February 16
Eligibility: High school sophomores and juniors (Grades 10–11)
Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP) (University of Iowa) is the heavyweight research option on this list. You join a faculty research group in the lab for nearly six weeks, working 40 hours a week on an original project. You might analyze cancer cell pathways, run genetic sequencing, or study public health data. It culminates in a research poster and presentation, exactly like a professional scientific conference. This is the program to pick if you want to prove to colleges that you can handle the grind and rigor of actual biomedical research.
Location: Des Moines, IA
Cost: $200 (Financial assistance available)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Registration-based; space is limited
Dates: July 10–12
Application Deadline: June 2
Eligibility: High school students (Grades 9–12) and recent graduates
BullD.O.G.S. in Healthcare (Drake University) is a three-day residential camp designed to break you out of the "doctor or nurse" mindset and show you the wider range of clinical roles. You will stay in the dorms and rotate through labs focused on pharmacy, occupational therapy, athletic training, and health sciences. The value here is the hands-on activity: you aren’t just hearing about compounding medications or rehabilitation techniques; you are doing simulations in the labs where college students train. It’s a lower-stakes, shorter commitment than a full summer internship, making it perfect for exploring options early.
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 - Lumiere Education logo