Every year a select group of high school students spends the summer working in the cutting-edge laboratories at the School of Medicine. Through these internship programs, the students — many of whom come from under-resourced schools or low-income families — get hands-on training for careers in health and science and develop one-on-one relationships with faculty members who serve as their mentors.
As Jill Helms, PhD, DDS, an associate professor of surgery here, argued in a recent podcast, the fact that science education is not faring well in many U.S. schools makes programs such as the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program, known as SIMR, and the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, or SMYSP, vital to producing future generations of scientists.
So what’s it like spending your summer working on cancer research, or trying to unlock the mysteries of moyamoya disease? Check out these videos to get four high school students’ perspective on their experience.
Previously: Stanford med school's training programs in full swing, Stanford summer research intern named finalist in national science competition, A look at the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program and A prescription for improving science education
