15 Medical Summer Programs for High School Students in Los Angeles, California
Exploring medical summer programs is a practical way for motivated high school students to deepen their understanding of the healthcare field. These programs help you build skills, develop familiarity with medical environments, and observe how professionals and researchers approach challenges. They also introduce you to industry practices and emerging areas in medicine, often allowing you to interact with experienced clinicians, researchers, and academic mentors and build your network.
Why should you attend a program in Los Angeles?
Los Angeles is home to several reputable universities, medical centers, and research institutions that host structured summer programs in medicine and related fields. These opportunities offer you access to diverse healthcare settings, exposure to public health issues, and opportunities to learn from faculty and practitioners working at the intersection of clinical care, research, and community health. These programs may appeal to students who already live or study in the city, as well as those from outside Los Angeles who want to experience the academic and medical landscape of a major metropolitan center.
To support you in identifying options, we have compiled a list of 15 medical programs for high school students in Los Angeles, California.
If you are looking for engineering internships in Los Angeles, check out our blog here.
1. Cedars Sinai - Inspiring New Scientists through Professional Internships and Research Experience (INSPIRE)
Location: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 25 students.
Dates: Check here for updates.
Application Deadline: Check here for updates.
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 years and older are eligible to apply.
INSPIRE is a 6- to 10-week paid summer program that introduces high school students and recent graduates to research in a healthcare environment through mentored, hands-on training and virtual workshops. You will work on projects spanning basic, translational, or clinical research, gaining exposure to core research principles, laboratory safety, proper use of protected health information, study design, data collection and analysis, scientific literature review, and abstract writing. You will also build presentation skills through lab meetings and journal clubs and take part in workshops focused on professional development, networking, and career exploration. The internship provides direct insight into research and administrative careers in healthcare, offering supervised training in foundational research practices, techniques, and compliance requirements.
2. Veritas AI - Deep Dive: AI + Medicine
Location: Virtual.
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Need-based financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer.
Application Deadline: May 25; you can apply to the program here
Eligibility: High school students with an interest in healthcare and prior coding experience are eligible to apply.
The Veritas AI + Medicine Deep Dive introduces high school students to the implications of artificial intelligence in shaping modern healthcare. Through guided, interactive sessions, you will examine the ways AI technologies and machine learning models are transforming areas such as diagnostics, treatment decisions, and overall care delivery. Throughout the program, you will work on coding tasks, analyze healthcare datasets, and take part in a collaborative final project focused on applying AI to a real medical challenge. The curriculum also covers key concepts like preparing medical data, understanding convolutional neural networks, and the fundamentals of clinical evaluation. The program concludes with a group presentation reviewed by PhD-level mentors.
3. City of Hope - Eugene and Ruth Roberts Summer Student Academy
Location: City of Hope, Los Angeles, CA.
Stipend: $4,500.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 71 students.
Dates: June 2 - August 8.
Application Deadline: March 12.
Eligibility: High school students who are at least 16 years old before their internship begins on June 2 are eligible to apply. Applicants should have completed high school courses in chemistry and biology.
This summer program offers high school students a 10-week, full-time research experience in which they design and carry out their own projects based on their scientific interests, including medicine. You will work closely with faculty mentors, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and lab staff from the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences, gaining direct exposure to biomedical research while developing critical thinking and independent inquiry skills. The program includes weekly student seminars where you will present your findings, as well as guidance in scientific writing through a required final report. Faculty speakers introduce you to topics ranging from neural stem cells and plant signaling pathways to DNA repair, alongside discussions on scientific career paths. Throughout the academy, you will build strong communication skills and engage continuously with mentors and peers, with some even contributing to publications.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program - Medicine Track
Location: Virtual.
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid is available!
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer.
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort.
Eligibility: High school students are eligible to apply.
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 you 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, biology, neuroscience, physics, data science, and more. You can find more details about the application here.
5. UCLA - Turner-UCLA Allied Health Internship
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the summer.
Application Deadline: March 7.
Eligibility: High school students and recent graduates are eligible to apply.
The Turner UCLA Allied Health Internship is a one-week summer initiative that introduces high school students and recent graduates to entry-level careers across the allied health professions. Designed to address workforce shortages and highlight pathways that do not require a traditional four-year degree or medical school, the program provides shadowing experiences in clinical, administrative, and other frontline healthcare roles. It also exposes you to issues related to health disparities while helping you understand the breadth of opportunities within the healthcare sector, to encourage you to consider short-term allied health training programs and related scholarship options.
6. Children's Hospital Los Angeles - High School Summer Volunteer Program
Location: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 20 students.
Dates: June 16 - August 1.
Application Deadline: February 3 - February 10.
Eligibility: High school students who are 15-17 years of age by June 16 are eligible to apply.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles offers a summer program that allows high school students to support patients, families, and hospital staff while gaining confidence and real-world experience. You will contribute to the hospital’s mission by providing services that enhance the patient’s and family’s experience, such as guiding patients to appointments, greeting families, handing out age-appropriate materials to children, and assisting with administrative tasks. You are expected to volunteer for 16 hours each week in four consistent time slots, with most shifts taking place Monday through Thursday. During the seven-week program, you must complete a minimum of 105 total service hours.
7. Los Angeles Pediatric Society - Eve and Gene Black Summer Medical Career Program
Location: Adventist Health White Memorial, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center, or UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective; 100-180 students.
Dates: Program 1: July 7 - 18 | Program 2: July 21 - August 1.
Application Deadline: February 14.
Eligibility: High school students who are 17 years old at the start of the program are eligible to apply.
This medical summer program aims to encourage high school students to explore careers in the health professions by offering structured mentorship and exposure to numerous medical specialties. You will engage in daily sessions that include presentations and interactive conversations with a wide range of professionals, including general pediatricians, medical subspecialists, surgeons, and nurses. Designed as an immersive mentoring experience, the program provides you with a broad understanding of clinical practice and the many roles within allied health. At the end of the program, all students receive a certificate of completion, and one participant is selected to receive a $500 scholarship.
8. UCLA - BrainSPORT Internship
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: June 9 - August 1.
Application Deadline: Typically ends by March
Eligibility: Rising juniors, with the opportunity to serve as mentors in a future year.
This internship allows students to work with the multidisciplinary BrainSPORT team, including clinicians, research scientists, a nurse practitioner, and investigators involved in one of the largest studies on adolescents experiencing long-term post-concussion symptoms. The research focuses on areas such as neuroimaging, blood-based biomarkers, autonomic function, and cognitive testing, along with several related ongoing projects. You will support the BrainSPORT team by helping with participant recruitment, entering data, and carrying out study procedures, offering a close look at the daily operations of clinical research. You will also participate in weekly traumatic brain injury lab meetings, gaining perspective on active research methods and collaborative scientific work. Over the course of the program, you will engage with peers, undergraduate students, and medical trainees, and finish the internship by delivering a final presentation on a research topic of your choice.
9. Children's Hospital Los Angeles - Camp CHLA
Location: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective.
Dates: Session I: June 16 – 20 | Session II: July 28 – August 1.
Application Deadline: December 13 - January 10.
Eligibility: Current freshmen, sophomores, or juniors in high school who live in Los Angeles County are eligible to apply.
Camp CHLA is a five-day, in-person program held twice each summer to introduce high school students to careers in healthcare. You will attend presentations in which healthcare professionals share their career paths and describe their daily responsibilities. The camp also includes hands-on learning in areas such as CPR, first aid, and injury or disease prevention. You will have opportunities to connect with peers who share an interest in CHLA’s mission, while gaining direct exposure to hospital environments and the work carried out across clinical departments.
10. UCLA - COSMOS Pre-College Program
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: $5,518 tuition and $46 application fee. Need-based financial aid is available.
Cohort size: 160-200 students.
Dates: July 5 – August 1.
Application Deadline: January 7 - February 6.
Eligibility: California high school students who excel in mathematics/science.
COSMOS at UCLA is a four-week residential pre-college program designed for high school students who show strong potential in STEM. The program allows you to study advanced STEM subjects under the guidance of UCLA faculty, researchers, and scientists while working in modern laboratories and research spaces. Its curriculum is both rigorous and hands-on, encouraging you to deepen your skills, explore possible academic and professional pathways, and engage with material that extends well beyond typical high school offerings. You are admitted into specific academic “clusters,” each focused on an advanced STEM theme such as medicine, biomedical sciences, engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, astronomy, robotics, materials science, marine science, ecology, game theory, and related fields.
11. University of Southern California - The Brain: Introduction to Neuroscience
Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Residential: $11,570 | Commuter: $8,130. The application fee is $85.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: June 22 - July 17.
Application Deadline: International Student Deadline: March 13 | Domestic Student Deadline: May 8. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis.
Eligibility: High school students who have completed 9th grade by the start of the program.
This neuroscience pre-college program introduces high school students to key questions about human behavior, cognition, and aging through a combination of lectures, laboratory work, and guided investigations. You will explore how biological mechanisms shape brain function, gain introductory research and analytical skills, and observe neuroscientific methods during visits to USC laboratories. The curriculum covers topics such as the scope of neuroscience, memory and learning, typical and atypical neural function, development and aging, brain structure, neurological disorders, and ethical issues in the field. You will learn to explain how neural systems influence behavior, examine molecular processes related to learning and memory, evaluate the biological basis of neurodiversity and aging, interpret experimental data, design and conduct lab experiments, and communicate findings through professional reports and structured presentations. The program culminates in a mock trial where you will present and defend your scientific conclusions.
12. UCLA - High School Pre-Med Summer Scholars Program
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: $1450. Need-based scholarships are available.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: Session 1: June 23 - 27 | Session 2: July 7 - 11.
Application Deadline: February 1 - March 15.
Eligibility: Current sophomores, juniors, and seniors attending high school in the United States are eligible to apply. Applicants must be 16 years old at the time of participation.
This one-week daytime summer program is designed for high school students interested in medicine, surgery, or robotics. You will gain hands-on experience with suturing, virtual reality surgical simulators, and advanced operative technologies. The Pre-Med Summer Scholar Program combines guest lectures from medical professionals with practical activities to give you a clearer understanding of what working in healthcare entails. Its purpose is to introduce you to multiple medical specialties so you can make more informed decisions about your future pathways. Previous curricula have included robotic and laparoscopic skills training, imaging sessions, pathology lessons, suturing practice, a healthcare provider panel, CPR instruction, Stop the Bleed certification, and tours of basic science research labs.
13. University of Southern California - Health and Healing: Writing the Medical Humanities
Location: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Residential: $11,570 | Commuter: $8,130. The application fee is $85.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: June 22 - July 17.
Application Deadline: International Student Deadline: March 13 | Domestic Student Deadline: May 8. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis.
Eligibility: High school students who have completed 9th grade by the start of the program are eligible to apply.
This summer program examines the evolution of the healing arts—from their early roots in religion and magic to the Scientific Revolution and today’s evidence-based medical model, while exploring how modern medicine understands the relationship between the body, the environment, and broader social contexts. You will analyze debates about what constitutes legitimate medical knowledge, the professionalization of the field, shifting ideas about the human body, and the rise of epidemiology and structural determinants of health. The course also introduces narrative medicine, emphasizing the distinction between disease and illness and guiding you in writing about your own experiences with questions of health and healing.
14. Summer Springboard - Emergency Medicine
Location: University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Cost: Residential: $5,998 | Commuter: $3,298. Need-based financial aid is available.
Acceptance rate: Selective.
Dates: Session 1: June 21 - July 3 | Session 2: July 5 - 17 | Session 3: July 19 - 31.
Application Deadline: 1st Wave Application Deadline: February 22 | 2nd Wave Application Deadline: April 19 | Final General Admission Deadline: May 15.
Eligibility: High school students who have completed 8th grade by the program start date are eligible to apply.
This two-week summer program introduces high school students to foundational skills in emergency medicine while offering insight into medical school pathways and healthcare careers. You will learn practical techniques such as taking vital signs, applying splints, providing basic first aid, suturing, controlling bleeding, and performing CPR. Training takes place in a hospital simulation lab, where you will observe how healthcare teams practice and refine life-saving procedures. Working collaboratively, you will research and diagnose simulated cases, develop treatment plans, and take part in a mock disaster scenario that requires triaging and managing multiple “patients.”
15. Stanford University - Clinical Summer Internship
Location: Virtual.
Cost: $4,580 tuition and $95 application fee.
Acceptance rate: Highly selective.
Dates: July 27 – August 7.
Application Deadline: November 1 - February 2.
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors who are 16+r are eligible to apply. Applicants are strongly encouraged to complete a high school biology course before enrolling.
This two-week, live online summer program offers a structured, interactive medical learning experience held via Zoom each weekday. All instruction is delivered in real time, and you are expected to attend daily and participate actively. Using a mailed supply kit, you will conduct at-home activities such as dissecting organs (including the brain, heart, and kidney), practicing suturing and injections, and taking vital signs. The program also features live lectures with Stanford faculty and medical professionals, as well as small-group collaboration and mentorship from Stanford School of Medicine students. All participants receive a certificate of completion at the end of the program.
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