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Explore clinical cases, anatomy, and healthcare careers in this two-week medicine academy for high school students on UC San Diego’s campus.
Course Description
A patient arrives with unfamiliar symptoms. The next question, a careful observation, or a teammate’s insight could change the direction of the case. Explore what happens when medical knowledge has to guide a decision.
In this course you will investigate clinical care through case studies, diagnostic simulations, and hands-on anatomy activities. Practice taking a patient history and communicating with empathy, then study how body systems—including the heart, lungs, digestive organs, liver, and brain—affect health. Explore wound care through suturing demonstrations and practice, and use dissection and anatomy activities to recognize structures and their functions.
Medical decisions also involve teamwork and ethics. Consider infectious disease, medical imaging, trauma response, and virtual patient visits as you work through simulated cases. Compare the roles of physicians, nurses, physician assistants, researchers, and healthcare administrators, including how their training and responsibilities differ.
For your capstone, select a healthcare profession and create three or four fictional career-path cases that show how education, opportunities, and decisions can lead in different directions. Present your research and explain what draws you to that profession. This two-week full-day Summer Discovery academy for high school students takes place on UC San Diego’s campus in La Jolla, California.
What You Will Do
• Practice taking simulated patient histories and communicating with care
• Explore the heart, lungs, digestive system, liver, and brain through anatomy activities
• Practice suturing techniques and identify structures during dissection activities
• Work through medical ethics, infectious-disease, and telehealth scenarios
• Analyze medical images and collaborate in a simulated trauma response
• Research a healthcare career and present fictional professional pathways
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Connect major body systems and basic clinical skills with simulated patient care
• Apply evidence, teamwork, and ethical reasoning to healthcare scenarios
• Compare medical professions and explain education and career pathways
You’ll leave with your healthcare-career case presentation, hands-on practice experience, and a certificate of completion.
Why Clinical Medicine Skills Matter
A patient case brings anatomy, communication, and judgment together. Learning how to ask questions, interpret a scenario, and consider different possibilities shows why clinical care depends on more than remembering medical terms. Practice with suturing, anatomy, and emergency scenarios helps students see how technical skills fit into a larger team effort.
Exploring healthcare professions also makes future choices more concrete. Students compare training routes and responsibilities, reflect on what interests them, and practice communicating their reasoning—habits useful in later biology, health-science, and research coursework.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
If you are curious about patient care, anatomy, or the many people who make a healthcare team work, this academy offers an active introduction. You’ll explore clinical scenarios, practice selected techniques, and compare medicine-related careers before developing a case-based project on one profession. Be ready to engage thoughtfully with anatomical material and challenging questions about health and medical ethics.
Your Summer at UCSD
UC San Diego’s coastal campus in La Jolla brings together ocean views, landscaped grounds, and an active research university. The Pacific Ocean is nearby, and the setting connects academic exploration with Southern California’s beaches, culture, and creative energy.
Outside class, students can make new friends, take part in campus activities, and experience a different daily routine from home. Shared summer experiences offer room for fun, growing independence, and discovering what it feels like to spend time in a university community.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive