Helix Summer Medical Program
Videography: Nolan Pokpongkiat, Crystal An
The Helix Summer Medical Program is a free, four-week program in the Bay Area that guides students through an exploration of different careers in the healthcare field. The first week of the program is an overnight stay on the UC Berkeley campus from Saturday through Friday, featuring a Core Curriculum comprised of lectures, biological and clinical labs, and professional development. In this week, students will also develop a research project to be presented to family members and community health professionals at the culminating Helix Symposium.
For the next two weeks, students will participate in Clinical Shadowing with four different preceptors across the pre-hospital (Emergency Medical Services), community clinic, and hospital settings and rotate through these placements. Every Friday, students will return to UC Berkeley for Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program faculty-led Clinical Shadowing Debrief sessions to openly share and discuss their weekly shadowing experiences. In the fourth and final week students will venture through Site Visits in which they will visit unique and exclusive healthcare centers and/or events including, but not limited to the Kaiser Permanente Garfield Medical Innovation Center, UCSF Cadaver Lab, and UCSF Medical School.
Helix’s Core Curriculum is developed by its own curriculum team, which works closely with Dr. Gustavo Valbuena, MD-PhD, who is the Head of Curriculum at the Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, to make the educational materials more engaging and immersive. Preceptors for Helix's Clinical Shadowing come from across our Bay Area healthcare community, representing the diversity of physicians and allied healthcare providers.
Core Curriculum Students are introduced to various fields of health and science, such as psychology, nutrition, genetics, anatomy, and much more. |
Biological and Clinical Labs Students are exposed to practical laboratory protocols, such as bacteria culturing, blood typing, and dissection, and learn basic emergency medical techniques. |
Professional Development Students network with healthcare providers in different fields and are matched with a mentor in the student's field of interest after the program. |
