High school students learn about health professions at UCSF

Twenty Bay Area high school students are participating in a six-week residential program designed to improve their knowledge in math and chemistry while exposing them to health profession careers at the University of California, San Francisco.

The UCSF Health Sciences Enrichment Program (HSEP) began classes on June 17 with 16 students from UCSF’s partnership with San Francisco high schools (Thurgood Marshall, Phillip and Sala Burton and Mission) and four from Bay Area high schools.

Teachers from the San Francisco Unified School District provide instruction for the students who receive credits toward high school graduation.  Students attend morning classes and are housed on the University of San Francisco campus.  In the afternoon, activities take place on the UCSF campus where presentations, tours and observational experiences are hosted by the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy as well as the UCSF Graduate Division.

Charles J. Alexander, PhD, is director of the Health Sciences Enrichment Program and associate dean of the School of Dentistry. “This is the fourth year for the HSEP, and it has been a very successful program,” Alexander said.  “Approximately 65 percent of the 130 past participants are currently attending college, with about 46 percent on a UC campus.  We are really excited about the prospects of receiving the first application to one of the UCSF health professions school programs next year,” he added.

On July 24 and 25, the HSEP students will present their group research projects from 1:30 -3:30 pm in N729 on the Parnassus campus.  The closing ceremony for the group will take place at 1:30 pm in the Millberry Union Conference Center on Friday, July 26.  It is open to the public.  Funding for the HSEP program is provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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