Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Work through patient-care simulations in this two-week Dartmouth medicine academy for high school students.
Course Description
Students explore the continuum of healthcare, beginning with prevention and wellness and extending through emergency response and acute care. Case studies, clinical demonstrations, simulations, and conversations with healthcare professionals show how modern systems respond to different patient needs.
Topics include preventative medicine, nutrition, epidemiology, public health, diagnostic reasoning, emergency medicine, trauma care, and patient communication. Simulated scenarios ask students to interpret evidence, prioritize next steps, and explain decisions under pressure.
The course also examines teamwork across medicine. Students compare the roles of physicians, nurses, emergency responders, therapists, researchers, and public-health professionals, then reflect on how scientific skill, communication, and compassion contribute to patient outcomes.
Students move between the perspective of an individual patient and that of a community. This helps them see where prevention, public health, emergency response, and clinical care overlap, and why effective healthcare depends on both specialized knowledge and coordinated action.
This two-week, full-day intensive academy is part of Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars in Hanover, New Hampshire. The academy is fully developed and run by Dartmouth and taught by Dartmouth faculty and expert instructors. Residential and commuter students participate throughout the day, pairing focused academic work with campus life and growing independence.
What Will You Do?
• Study prevention, wellness, nutrition, and epidemiology
• Analyze patient cases using diagnostic reasoning
• Participate in clinical and emergency-response simulations
• Examine trauma care and acute medical decisions
• Practice patient communication and teamwork
• Compare roles across healthcare professions
• Apply public-health ideas to community well-being
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain how prevention, public health, and emergency medicine connect across the care continuum
• Apply evidence and clinical reasoning to simulated patient scenarios
• Communicate and collaborate while recognizing the roles of different healthcare professionals
Students leave with patient-case and simulation experience, stronger clinical reasoning and teamwork skills, and clearer direction about medicine, nursing, public health, emergency care, or biomedical science.
Why Clinical Medicine Skills Matter
Clinical medicine asks students to combine scientific evidence with communication, teamwork, and decisions made under time constraints. A patient problem may involve prevention, diagnosis, acute care, and follow-up rather than one isolated answer.
Cases and simulations develop structured reasoning and the ability to explain a next step. Comparing professional roles shows why good care depends on coordination among clinicians, responders, researchers, therapists, and public-health teams. These skills matter across medicine, nursing, emergency care, public health, biomedical science, and healthcare administration.
Who Should Attend?
This academy is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in medicine, nursing, emergency response, public health, biomedical science, or patient care. It is a strong fit for students who want to understand healthcare as a coordinated system rather than one profession.
Participants should be ready to work through patient scenarios, make decisions with a team, communicate clearly, and discuss the responsibilities of different healthcare roles. The source does not state a formal prerequisite. Curiosity, composure during simulations, and respect for patient-centered discussion are important.
Recommended by 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in the Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars program (2026)
Why Dartmouth?
Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars gives high school students a concentrated introduction to college-level learning in Hanover, New Hampshire. The intensive, noncredit academies are fully developed and run by Dartmouth and taught by Dartmouth faculty and expert instructors. Students explore current ideas through discussion, projects, and sustained work that helps them test an academic interest in depth.
Residential students live in Dartmouth residence halls, eat at 53 Commons, and can join workshops and counselor-supported evening and weekend activities. Time in Hanover and the Upper Valley adds a distinctive New England setting, while the broader experience helps students build independence and clarify what they may want to study next.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive