14 Medical Programs for High School Students in Pennsylvania
If you are a high school student interested in medicine, participating in a structured program can help you explore the field beyond what is typically covered in school. You might find yourself in a hospital observing rounds, in a research lab working on an ongoing study, studying the social determinants of health in a community setting, or learning how clinical trials are designed and run. These experiences can help you better understand different healthcare careers while developing a stronger foundation in the biological and health sciences.
Why should you attend a program in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania is home to institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) that offer medical programs for high school students. Through these programs, you may observe clinical settings, contribute to biomedical research projects, learn laboratory techniques, or explore topics such as public health, nursing, and medical ethics. Whether you are a local or an out-of-state student interested in healthcare-focused programs, these experiences provide several ways to learn more about medicine before college.
To help with your search, here are 14 medical programs for high school students in Pennsylvania.
If you’re looking for online summer programs, check out our blog here.
1. Wistar Institute High School Fellowship in Biomedical Research
Location: The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA
Stipend: $1,500
Program Dates: July 6 – 30
Deadline: Late March
Eligibility: Students at least 16 years old by the program start date; must have completed at least one high school science course; no prior research experience required; priority given to students enrolled in the Philadelphia School District
The Wistar Institute's research areas work in cancer biology, vaccine development, and infectious diseases. You’ll spend four weeks working in Wistar's Training Lab on active science projects, learning foundational laboratory techniques that apply broadly across biomedical research: working with DNA, RNA, proteins, and cells. The program uses a "just-in-time teaching" approach, meaning techniques are introduced exactly when you need them for the work. You'll also learn to read and interpret scientific literature and explore the range of career paths that exist within biomedical research beyond the lab itself.
2. Veritas AI + Medicine Deep Dive
Location: Virtual; open to students worldwide
Cost: Varies by program type; full financial aid available
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Deadline: Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), Winter (November)
Eligibility: High school students; applicants should have completed the Veritas AI Scholars program or demonstrate prior experience with AI concepts or Python
The Veritas AI + Medicine Deep Dive is a ten-week program founded and run by Harvard graduate students that sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. The program is structured to take you from foundational concepts to applied project work. The first two weeks cover the relationship between AI and medicine broadly, while weeks three through five introduce core technical topics. These topics include medical data preparation, exploratory data analysis, and Convolutional Neural Networks. Weeks six through ten move into image segmentation, regularization, transfer learning, and the fundamentals of clinical evaluation. You'll work on real-world projects using AI and machine learning models to diagnose diseases, sharpen medical scans, and generate explainable outputs that can support clinical decision-making by doctors and patients.
3. Magee-Womens Research Institute High School Summer Internship
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Stipend: $1,800
Program Dates: Mid-June to late July
Deadline: Late fall
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores and juniors only; must be over 16 years old by the program start date; permanent residence in southwest Pennsylvania
Magee-Womens Research Institute is a research institute focused on reproductive biology, women's health, and infant health, and this six-week internship places you inside active research on those topics. You’ll work on your own project under the guidance of an MWRI or Magee-Womens Hospital investigator and their lab staff, completing 240 hours of research over the program period. Throughout the summer, informal Lunch & Learn sessions give you direct access to investigators who talk through their own career paths and personal journeys in biomedical science. The program wraps up with a formal Internship Presentation Day where you’ll present your findings to faculty, staff, and invited guests.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar’s Medicine Track
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies by program type; full financial aid available
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts; program length ranges from 12 weeks to one year
Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: Currently enrolled high school students
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. 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 medicine, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
5. CHOP-RISES
Location: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Late June to early August
Deadline: Early April
Eligibility: Rising juniors at Philadelphia public or charter schools only; must be at least 16 years old by June 15; must be legally authorized to work in the United States
CHOP-RISES is a two-summer internship program at one of the nation's leading pediatric hospitals, structured around a clear progression of responsibility across consecutive summers. In CHOP-RISES I, rising juniors complete a six-week placement involving hands-on lab training, career exploration workshops, and a final presentation. Students who complete the first summer are eligible to return for CHOP-RISES II as rising seniors, where they select a specific research track, develop and complete an independent project, serve as mentors to incoming CHOP-RISES I students, and present a research poster at a joint symposium alongside undergraduate scholars.
6. UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Location: Pittsburgh, PA; six sites across the UPMC/University of Pittsburgh campus
Cost: Free
Program Dates: 7 weeks during the summer
Deadline: Spring
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors; must be at least 15 years old for computational placements, 16 years old for wet lab placements; commuter program
The Hillman Academy is UPMC's cancer-focused research program for rising high school seniors, placing you directly into faculty labs at the University of Pittsburgh for seven weeks of full-time biomedical or computational research. You’ll work on your own project under the guidance of a dedicated research mentor, putting in approximately 35 hours a week, the same schedule as a working researcher. The summer ends with both an oral presentation and a poster session where you’ll present your findings to the broader research community.
7. Monell Science Apprenticeship Program (MSAP)
Location: Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Mid-June to the end of July
Deadline: Spring
Eligibility: High school students from the greater Philadelphia area, including Camden, NJ, must be able to prove eligibility to work in the United States
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is the only independent research institute in the world dedicated entirely to the science of taste and smell, and MSAP places high school students inside it for a fully funded summer of structured research alongside Monell scientists. You’ll work full-time on a research project that connects sensory biology to biomedical science and medicine. It's specifically designed to reach students from groups underrepresented in science, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and students from lower-income backgrounds. Beyond the lab work, the program includes enrichment sessions covering scientific topics, public speaking, written communication, and ethical principles in human and animal research, and closes with a public conference where you present your findings to Monell staff, family, and peers.
8. Fox Chase Cancer Center Immersion Science Program (ISP)
Location: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Winter session, from early January through mid-March
Deadline: Fall
Eligibility: Students at least 16 years old before the session start date; must have completed both high school biology and chemistry; open to students from the Philadelphia tri-state area
The Fox Chase Cancer Center Immersion Science Program is a Saturday research program that places 16 students per session inside an active cancer research laboratory at one of the country's leading NCI-designated cancer centers. The training course focuses on a specific scientific question, “how diet influences cancer signaling,” and takes you from boot camp training in foundational lab techniques to designing and running your own experimental project by the end of the program. Short lectures cover the cellular basis for cancer, the use of Drosophila as a research model, and experimental design and analysis, but the emphasis is on doing the work. Those who complete the full program are eligible to apply for the Summer Fellows Program, a paid summer continuation funded by the National Cancer Institute and private donors.
9. Provost's Summer Mentorship Program (SMP)
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: July 6 – 31
Deadline: March 22
Eligibility: Students currently in 9th or 10th grade enrolled in a Philadelphia high school; minimum GPA 3.0; must reside and attend school in Philadelphia
The Provost's Summer Mentorship Program has been one of the University of Pennsylvania's flagship outreach initiatives for Philadelphia high school students. You’ll apply to one of five tracks tied directly to Penn's graduate and professional schools: the Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Penn Carey Law School, or the School of Dental Medicine and spend four weeks on Penn's campus doing hands-on, curriculum-driven learning in your chosen field. For students in the medicine or nursing tracks, this means working directly with one of the country's top medical schools and gaining exposure to clinical and health sciences careers. Beyond the field-specific programming, SMP covers financial literacy, SAT preparation, time management, study skills, and personal statement writing.
10. Educational Pipeline Program (EPP)
Location: University of Pennsylvania and partnering high school campuses, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Year-round
Deadline: Program recruits directly through partner schools
Eligibility: High school students at Sayre High School and West Philadelphia High School only; open to students across all grade levels (9th–12th) at these two schools
The Educational Pipeline Program is built into the school year and operates through a layered mentorship model in which high school students are taught by Penn undergraduates, who are, in turn, guided by medical students. The curriculum runs grade by grade across four subjects: gastroenterology in 9th grade, neurology in 10th, cardiology in 11th, and veterinary medicine in 12th, each tied to health issues particularly relevant to the students' own communities. In the spring semester, you’ll travel to Penn's campus weekly for 75-minute in-depth sessions that include experiments, dissections, specimen examination, and a field trip to the School of Veterinary Medicine's hospital. The program ends with a student-led final presentation on a medical topic, prepared with guidance from Penn undergraduates and graduate students, and attended by families.
11. Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences (PARS)
Location: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: February and March
Deadline: Winter
Eligibility: Students in grades 10–12 at Philadelphia-area schools
PARS is a workshop run by expert clinicians and scientists from Penn Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, built around current research in reproductive health. The format combines small-group discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on lab activities that cover female reproductive anatomy and physiology, fertilization, embryonic development, stem cells, genetics, epigenetics, and oncofertility across the four sessions. You'll also work through a scientific journal article, engage in ethical decision-making discussions, and explore what career paths in reproductive medicine and research actually look like. Attendance at all four sessions is required to complete the program and remain eligible for the paid OER Summer Internship for qualifying students in the summer.
12. Penn State Health High School Internship Program
Location: Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center, Reading, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Full academic year
Deadline: Mid-December of junior year
Eligibility: Incoming Berks County high school seniors only; minimum GPA 2.7; at least 16 years old
Penn State Health's High School gives you a real-world view of a hospital environment. You're placed in one of the hospital's active departments, options include the Emergency Department, Cancer Center, Family Birthing Center, Pediatrics, NICU, Surgical Services, Laboratory, Cardio/Respiratory, and more. You’ll also perform nonclinical, hands-on tasks, such as supporting staff, patients, and visitors in that setting throughout the year. Your schedule is built around your existing school timetable, and while the program tries to match you to your area of interest, specific placements aren't guaranteed. You may also explore other departments through shadowing opportunities, subject to availability.
13. REACH Program
Location: Jefferson East Falls Campus, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: Five days in mid-July
Deadline: Mid-June
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors; must attend a school in the Philadelphia School District; minimum GPA 3.0
The REACH Program at Jefferson's College of Rehabilitation Sciences is a focused five-day introduction to health careers that most pre-med programs don't cover: physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training, exercise science, and speech-language pathology. REACH gives you direct exposure to what each one involves, how they function within a care team, and what the academic path to each looks like from undergraduate through graduate study. Beyond career content, the program covers practical college preparation, such as how to stand out in applications and personal statements, what to expect in interviews, and how to succeed once you're in an undergraduate program.
14. Nursing STEP-UP
Location: Jefferson College of Nursing campuses, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Free
Program Dates: June 30 – July 25
Deadline: May 17
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
Nursing STEP-UP at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital combines direct nursing education with support for college preparation. The first week runs virtually and is dedicated to SAT preparation delivered by a name-brand provider; from week two onward, the program moves to Jefferson's nursing campuses for in-person classroom instruction, simulation experiences, and enrichment activities. The nursing content covers the field's various disciplines through classroom sessions and hands-on simulation, giving you a concrete sense of what nursing practice involves across different settings and specialties. Alongside the clinical content, the program builds time management and study skills, offers student mentoring, and supports personal statement and resume development.