15 Public Health Summer Programs for High School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 4 hours ago
- 11 min read
For high school students interested in improving community health or exploring careers in medicine, epidemiology, or health policy, public health summer programs offer a valuable starting point. These programs introduce you to how health systems work, how data informs public decisions, and how you can use research and advocacy to make an impact.
Because public health is rarely taught at the high school level, these programs help bridge the gap by offering interdisciplinary learning that draws from biology, statistics, sociology, and policy. Many are hosted by universities, medical schools, or public health institutions, and they often include research projects, lab work, mentorship, and exposure to health issues both local and global.
Below are 15 public health summer programs for high school students. Many programs are fully-funded, with the vast majority of others offering financial aid. If you're looking for more prestigious internships, check out this set of blogs!
15 Public Health Summer Programs for High School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program type. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective. One on one program
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year. Summer sessions run between June and August
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines by cohort. Summer session deadlines in May or June
Eligibility: High school students with strong academic backgrounds. Accepted students have an unweighted GPA of at least 3.3 out of 4.0
If you’re interested in applying your public health interest to hands-on research, Lumiere’s Research Scholar Program offers one-on-one mentored research summer programs, with the ability to focus on public health and medicine. Over 12 to 16 weeks, or through a 6-month or year-long fellowship, you will collaborate with a PhD-level mentor to design and execute an independent project on a topic of your choice. To supplement your research work, you’ll additionally collaborate with a coach to provide guidance in academic writing. You’ll finish the program with a formal academic research paper and receive support in submitting your work to student journals.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program type. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective. One on one program
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year. Summer sessions run between June and August
Application Deadline: Multiple deadlines by cohort. Summer session applications due May or June
Eligibility: High school students with strong academic backgrounds. Minimum unweighted GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale
Weill Cornell Medicine Pediatrics Summer Internship Program offers high school students the opportunity to join undergraduate and graduate students for pediatric medical and public health research. High school students are eligible for the internships in Quality Improvement, Research on Hospital Discharge for Children with Medical Complexity, and the Health for Life Program. In the Health for Life Program Internship, you’ll contribute to public health initiatives to support healthy lifestyle choices for youth with childhood obesity through developing nutrition and exercise plans, educating families, and contributing to research projects. In Quality Improvement, you’ll develop methods to maximize young patients’ experiences and outcomes in inpatient and outpatient hospitals. In the Research on Hospital Discharge internship, you’ll contribute to ongoing public health research to improve post-hospitalization outcomes in children with serious medical conditions, including working with parents and children. Through these internships, you’ll get to directly support high-level research, network with professional clinicians and Cornell faculty, and see how public health improvement projects are developed.
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies by program type. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: One to one personalized internships
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school and undergraduate students
Ladder Internships offers opportunities for high school students looking to hone their skills in an industry setting and maintain a flexible schedule. You’ll be matched with a startup or nonprofit organization with a public health focus — options include healthtech and global mental health — to develop and execute a project meeting their current needs. You’ll work alongside a mentor from the company to evaluate how your skills can support the organization’s development, then complete a series of deliverable assignments over the course of 8 weeks. At the end of the program, you’ll present your final work product to the company board.
Location: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MACost: FreeAcceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective; 8 studentsDates: June 30 – July 24Application Deadline: May 16Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th-grade students from low-income backgrounds and/or who will be the first in their family to attend college | Students not meeting these criteria are still permitted to apply | Students must be able to commute to Boston, have basic knowledge of algebra, and intend to study STEM in college
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosts high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds each summer for their fully-funded StatStart program, centered on data science and computing with a public health focus. You’ll attend lectures in R programming and biostatistics, learning to apply quantitative skills to analyze questions in public health under the guidance of Harvard graduate students. To practice your skills, you’ll also complete a series of labs and hands-on activities in coding and statistical analysis. You’ll finish the program with a group research project applying biostatistics methods to a public health topic, which you’ll present to your peers and mentors. You’ll also receive support in discerning a career in quantitative public health or statistics, and advice on preparing for college applications.
Location: UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free. Stipend provided after successful program completion
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. About 20 students
Dates: June 28 to July 24
Application Deadline: March 2
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th-grade students aged 16+ who live and attend school in Massachusetts, and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents | Students must either be economically disadvantaged or from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds
UMass Chan’s HSHCP program hosts high school students for a free month-long residential medicine and public health summer program. You’ll study public health through the Cultural and Contemporary Health Issues Seminar series centered on racial healthcare inequities. You’ll also pursue academic enrichment coursework across STEM, English and Communication, and Technology. The program culminates with the Health Disparities Research Project, where you’ll focus on a cultural group in Massachusetts facing limited access to care and/or below-average health outcomes. Other activities include field trips to medical institutions and research facilities, and internship opportunities with doctors and healthcare professionals.
Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. 24 students
Dates: June 22 to July 26
Application Deadline: Applications open mid December. Check website for deadline updates
Eligibility: High school juniors residing in Northern California who are low income or first generation college students
Stanford's Medical Youth Science Program provides an opportunity for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain mentored research, education, and professional development experience in public health and medicine. You’ll be placed in an internship position at Stanford Hospital, where you’ll learn about medical science, shadow physicians, and complete medical labs. You’ll also conduct public health research by completing a health disparities group project, where you’ll work alongside your peers to write a college-level research paper, conference presentation, and poster. Potential topic areas include racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes and language barriers faced by non-English speakers in hospitals. To build academic experience in public health, you’ll also attend weekly lectures on specialized topics in the field and public health research methodologies.
Location: CDC Museum, Atlanta, GA
Cost/Stipend: Free. Students cover their own housing and travel expenses
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 7 to 8 percent. 27 students per session
Dates: Two 5 day sessions offered during the summer
Application Deadline: Applications open December 15. Check website for deadline updates
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors at least 16 years old
CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp is a public health summer program for high schoolers interested in a multidisciplinary study of global public health and medicine. You’ll study fields including public health law and communication, environmental health, school health, disease surveillance, and more. Within these broader fields, you’ll learn about specialized topics including epidemic preparation initiatives, public health interventions, and youth violence prevention. You’ll complete a series of hands-on activities, including analyzing re-created disease outbreaks, holding a mock press conference, and conducting lab experiments. The program hosts a series of speakers from CDC scientists, providing exposure to industry experts and ways you can apply your public health interests to a future career.
8. Yale School of Public Health Young Scholars Summer Program in Biostatistics and Clinical Research
Location: Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT
Cost: $3,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. 12 students
Dates: July 17 to August 1
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th grade students. Rising 12th graders prioritized. Strong academic record with emphasis on math. Prior programming experience recommended. Connecticut residents only
Yale’s Young Scholars Summer Program in Biostatistics and Clinical Research introduces high school students to public health and medicine research from a quantitative approach. You’ll study under the guidance of Yale biostatisticians, learning statistical research methodologies, R programming skills, and study design for medical and public health research. Each day, you’ll attend supplementary lectures from Yale’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health on topics across biostatistics and clinical research. You’ll apply your skills in a final small-group research project, where you’ll analyze real clinical data to develop and execute a quantitative public health study that you’ll present to the cohort, Yale students, and faculty. To receive support on planning your college journey and career path, you’ll also have access to Peer Mentors, former program attendees who will share their post-program experiences and support your future development.
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Cost: $5,800. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No information available
Dates: Multiple two week sessions over the summer. Dates vary by course
Application Deadline: January 7 priority. February 11 regular. April 1 late, space permitting
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th grade students ages 16 to 19
Harvard’s Pre-College program allows high school students to take undergraduate-level courses at Harvard with multiple summer course options in the field of public health. In Science, Race, and Society, you’ll study how racism has informed healthcare inequities on a structural level, from biased clinical research design to discriminatory public health policy. In The Overdose Epidemic, you’ll learn about how factors from economic insecurity to over-prescribing of opioid pharmaceuticals have led to the opioid public health crisis, and its connections to poverty, violence, and the medical establishment. In the course Who Lives, Who Dies: Medicine and Society, you’ll explore how healthcare institutions have neglected marginalized groups across racial, economic, and cultural lines through examining case studies in mental health, surgery, and cancer treatment. Outside of coursework, you’ll also prepare for college through application essay workshops, discussions on financial aid, and panels with admissions officers from schools across the U.S.
Location: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Cost: $2,250 residential. $1,250 commuter. Limited financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No information available
Dates: July 13 to July 18
Application Deadline: March 7 early. May 30 regular
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors ages 15 to 17. US residents only
Stony Brook University’s Public Health Summer Program for high schoolers offers a combination of lectures, career preparation, and educational activities. You’ll learn core topics in public health, including healthy lifestyle education, disease and injury prevention, and health emergency interventions. You’ll hold interactive discussions with your classmates and instructors, analyzing and debating real-world public health questions and studying contemporary research in the field. You’ll be taught by four Stony Brook Public Health professors, with research specializations including Medicaid policy, racial healthcare inequities, the impacts of climate change on public health, and connections between PTSD and depression and physical illness.
Location: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $400. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: About 20 students
Dates: July 14 to 18. July 28 to August 1
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions until May 31
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors from the Philadelphia area
Drexel’s Public Health Summer Institute trains Philadelphia high school students in diverse public health topics through a combination of lectures, field trips, and projects. You’ll attend a daily speaker series, with guest lecturers from epidemiologists, public health community organizers, and Drexel faculty members. You’ll study topics including health administration, environmental health impacts, public transportation, community health, and racial inequities in healthcare institutions. Projects include modeling a disease outbreak and developing a public health intervention response using CDC methodologies. You’ll also attend field trips to local institutions, including the Philadelphia City Hall and the Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. To prepare for college, you’ll get to speak with Drexel admissions officers on an interactive campus tour.
Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA or online. Varies by course
Cost: $4,050 to $14,950. Varies by course length and format. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective. About 45 students per course
Dates: Varies by course
Application Deadline: January 7 early or priority. February 11 regular. April 1 late, courses may be full
Eligibility: Students in grades 10 to 12, ages 16 to 18
High school students can enroll in Harvard's Secondary School Program to take summer courses in public health and other subjects, with the chance to earn transferable college credits. In the course Social Medicine and Social Change, you’ll learn about public healthcare inequities in Boston related to poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and racism through a medical anthropology approach. The class Stigma, Women's Health, and Reproduction examines misogyny within the healthcare system, both historically and in the present. It explores subjects such as hysteria, breast cancer, and menopause. You’ll learn to apply public health analytical skills to topics across health outcomes, disease stigmatization, and prejudice in medical research and practice. In Deadly Diseases: Epidemics Throughout History, you’ll study public health with a focus on epidemiology, covering topics from the bubonic plague to COVID-19 and how they impact society and culture.
Location: Barnard College, New York, NY
Cost: $8,160 commuter. $10,171 residential. Financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No information available
Dates: 3 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions beginning in January
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
Barnard’s Health and Society Institute is a summer program merging public health, philosophy, history, and anthropology. You'll explore diseases using an epistemological framework, examining how they are identified, the power dynamics influencing diagnosis and treatment, and the function of surveillance in healthcare. Within this framework, you’ll analyze both historical and contemporary case studies in public health, examining why medical advancements are unequally shared between countries and regions, the economic structure of the U.S. public health system, and how health outcome disparities are perpetuated over time. You’ll also learn and apply qualitative research methods in public health and social science, including research ethics, developing a project structure, and interviewing participants.
Location: Remote
Cost: $99
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No information available
Dates: July to mid August. Most events held on weekends. Concentrated from July 13 to July 25
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9 to 12
Johns Hopkins’ Global Health Leaders Conference provides an opportunity for high school students to learn about public health through a series of online workshops and events. You’ll attend a series of lectures from global health and public health professionals — GLOHEA has previously hosted the Former Director of the CDC Center for Global Health, Nobel Laureates in public health, and leadership from Doctors Without Borders. Lecture topics have included global initiatives fighting HIV and AIDS, vaccine accessibility and efficacy in Native American populations, and smoking cessation programs for economically disadvantaged individuals. You’ll also have the opportunity to present research on global public health at the Conference’s Student Speaker Series, with past topics ranging from food insecurity to mental health.
Location: Brown University, Providence, RI or online. Varies by course
Cost: Varies by course and residential/commuter/online format; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Varies by course
Dates: Multiple 2- and 3-week sessions; varies by course
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions ending May 9
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18. Some courses have additional prerequisites
Brown’s Pre-College summer program includes several public health course options each year, providing specialized training across global, regional, and historical focuses. In Health Justice in the Global South, you’ll learn about the origins of health challenges in the Global South, successful and unsuccessful interventions by NGOs and the private sector, and the impact of poverty on public health. You’ll hear from guest speakers, including public health researchers, therapists, and social entrepreneurs from the Global South and beyond, including Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. You’ll finish the course with a final project analyzing a current healthcare intervention in the Global South region, evaluating the ethics, design, and efficacy, and developing recommendations to maximize the program’s success. Other public health course options include Global Health: Inequality, Culture, and Human Well-being Around the World and The Foundation of Modern Day Health Disparities.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program in which students work one-on-one with a mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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