15 Medical Internships for Freshman in High School
If you’re interested in medicine, a targeted internship lets you see the day-to-day realities of healthcare, research, or health tech. You might shadow procedures, analyze data, contribute to patient-support tools, or conduct basic research. This early exposure helps you decide on specializations, understand the demands of the field, and start building a network that can guide your future decisions.
For other healthcare-related internships, check out a list of summer-specific internships here, and find a list of virtual healthcare internships here.
Why should I do a medical internship in high school?
Medical internships offer concrete advantages that go well beyond adding a line to your resume. You can gain direct insight into clinical environments, research labs, or health tech organizations, helping you explore different healthcare pathways before committing to years of medical or pre-health education. Many programs also pair you with physicians, researchers, or healthcare professionals who provide mentorship and personalized feedback while helping you develop practical skills such as scientific communication, clinical reasoning, data analysis, teamwork, and patient-centered problem-solving.
To help you get started, we’ve put together 15 medical internships for freshmen in high school.
Key takeaways
This list gathers 15 medical internships for high school freshmen spanning hospital-based clinical exposure, biomedical research labs, and health tech startups, with standout hosts including Mount Sinai, Stanford, Yale, and Cleveland Clinic.
Pay varies widely, with strong stipends like $1,500 through a Kansas City healthcare placement program and hourly pay through several hospital-based internships, while a couple of the university-affiliated research programs charge a participation fee instead.
A few of these are structured as multi-year commitments or have prerequisite course sequences, so it's worth reading the full eligibility details closely to confirm a true freshman can start right away rather than needing to complete an earlier-level course first.
Most of these require being local to a specific city or region, particularly clustered around Boston, New York, and Seattle, while Ladder and a couple of virtual research programs are open regardless of location.
A few of the earliest deadlines fall in early January for two of the most competitive hospital-based programs, so it's worth starting applications well before winter break wraps up.
1. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE)
Location: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Stipend: Paid hourly, rate not disclosed
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: February 1
Eligibility: New York City high school students from grades 9 through 12; some tracks specifically require students to be upperclassmen (rising juniors or seniors); primarily for students from underrepresented or economically disadvantaged backgrounds; not open to international students
The Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE) at Mount Sinai provides you with a direct opportunity to explore medical and biomedical careers through specialized pathways. During the program, you will dive into complex topics like neuroscience, neurology, veterinary sciences, and clinical medicine. You will participate in hands-on activities such as conducting laboratory research, engaging in immersive hospital internships, working through clinical case studies, and interacting directly with Mount Sinai faculty. A unique feature of CEYE is its highly competitive, specialized placement tracks, including NeuroSurgery Scholars and Cultivating Neurological Success, that pair you with specific clinical departments for focused mentorship.
2. Ladder Internships
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on the program type; financial aid is available / No stipend
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Application Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November)
Eligibility: All high school students (including freshmen) who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks
Ladder Internships matches you with a health tech startup or nonprofit for remote neurological and ophthalmological monitoring or IPMD for AI-driven patient experience solutions, depending on your selected track. Through the healthcare and medicine pathway, you will work virtually on real projects under the guidance of a company manager and a dedicated Ladder coach, who provides one-on-one mentorship and professional training. Your responsibilities may include coding patient communication tools, researching health-related topics such as nutrient-disease interactions, developing strategy documents for monitoring systems, or contributing to mission-driven initiatives in fields like AI and healthcare innovation. Weekly training sessions focus on communication, time management, and project planning, while group workshops connect you with other interns. The program concludes with a formal presentation of your deliverables to stakeholders and a company letter of completion.
3. ADA Forsyth Institute – Student Scholars Summer Program
Location: Somerville, Massachusetts, United States (ADA Forsyth Institute headquarters)
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Dates: June 29 – August 21
Application Deadline: April 1
Eligibility: Enrollment in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade at the time of application; attendance at a school in the Eastern Massachusetts/Boston area
In this program, you spend the summer as a paid intern at ADA Forsyth's Somerville headquarters, an NIH-funded institute studying oral health and its connections to overall health. A Forsyth scientist mentors you in an area such as microbiology, craniofacial biology, or inflammation and immunology. You learn basic laboratory techniques by contributing to your mentor's active project, then carry out an independent research project of your own. You give weekly presentations to fellow students and mentors, attend college-level lectures from Forsyth scientists on oral health research, immunology, and microbiology, and finish with a scientific poster presented to the Boston-area scientific community.
4. Stanford AIMI High School Summer Research Internship
Location: Virtual
Cost: $2,400 + $45 application fee; financial aid is available
Dates: Two-week sessions: Session A: June 15–26; Session B: July 6–17
Application Deadline: February 21
Eligibility: U.S. high school students entering grades 9–12 in the fall; (14+) with solid math or computer programming skills, or those who have worked on a healthcare project
In this program, you’ll explore artificial intelligence applications in healthcare through lectures, technical training, and a project-based experience. In the research track, you can work in small mentored teams to apply AI to challenges such as medical imaging or clinical data analysis, while the bootcamp track focuses on foundational AI concepts and responsible use in medicine. The program includes sessions with Stanford researchers and clinicians, where you can collaborate on framing research questions, exploring datasets, and developing solutions. You’ll present your final project at the end of the program and receive a Certificate of Completion from the Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging.
5. UW School of Medicine – BRIGHT-UP
Location: University of Washington research labs, Seattle, Washington
Stipend: Minimum wage
Dates: July to August over seven weeks
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Current high school student in grades 9 through 12; meets at least one criterion of low-income status or being potentially the first in the family to attend college, or comes from a financially or educationally disadvantaged background
In this program, you spend seven summer weeks inside the University of Washington biomedical research labs, beginning with a week of orientation covering research at UW, biosafety, and hands-on benchwork training. For the following six weeks, you are mentored one-on-one by a scientist while developing your own research project using specialized laboratory techniques. Weekly career development meetings, discussion panels led by biomedical researchers and trainees, and visits to labs across a range of disciplines connect the bench work to medical and health science careers. You also receive training in presentation skills and close the program by presenting your results at a symposium for mentors, peers, families, and the UW community.
6. Yale Center for Clinical Investigation – Clinical and Translational Research Exposures Program
Location: Fully remote
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: July 6–31
Application Deadline: April 4
Eligibility: Highly motivated high school students; at least 15 years of age before the start of the internship (freshmen who turn 15 before July)
In this program, you spend four weeks in a fully remote internship learning clinical and translational research from a multidisciplinary team of Yale scientists. You are matched with a mentor and explore common and complex human diseases, patient engagement, health equity, data science, and mobile technologies that monitor and improve care. You attend weekly seminars, read assigned journal articles for Clinical Research Journal Club, join Brown Bag Roundtable lunches with faculty, and observe how clinical trials are proposed, designed, and analyzed. You then complete an independent or group research project and present it at a virtual YCCI research meeting with institutional and community leaders. You finish with a certificate of completion and possible school credit or transcript notation.
7. George Mason University Center for Biomedical Science and Policy – High School Student Training and Internship Experience: AI and Medical Informatics for Emerging Research Scholars
Location: Hybrid format with virtual synchronous sessions and an in-person conference at George Mason University, Arlington Campus, Arlington, Virginia
Cost/Stipend: Fees apply; please email cbsp@gmu.edu for application and program fees; limited need-based scholarships are available / No stipend
Dates: June 22 – July 24
Application Deadline: Rolling, first-come, first-served basis until seats fill
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
In this program, you join a three-to-four-student team mentored by George Mason faculty, PhD research assistants, and physicians and surgeons from medical schools nationwide. Your project addresses clinical questions such as kidney transplant outcomes in patients with Crohn's disease or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, and advance care planning and emergency department use among end-stage renal disease patients. You run biostatistical analyses, build network models of plasma trade and illicit kidney networks, and apply large language models using R or Python. Monday synchronous sessions, weekly assignments, and optional office hours support a final paper and a conference presentation. Seminars with practicing physicians introduce medical specialties and medical school admission pathways.
8. UC San Diego Bioengineering Scholar High School Internship Project — BE-SHIP
Location: Online with hybrid and on-site laboratory work at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California for the BE-SHSP phase
Cost/Stipend: $2,100 tuition for BERP-A (Summer); $2,600 online or $3,000 hybrid for BERP-B (Winter), plus a potential $500 lab fee + roughly $50 in locally sourced supplies; international applicants may incur additional shipping fees / No stipend
Dates: BERP-A, August 3–14 (Live Online, Summer); BERP-B, January 10 – March 1 (Winter); BE-SHSP, April 4 – May 24 (Spring) and June 8 – August 14 with on-site periods June 8–26 and/or July 6–24 (Summer); BE-SHSP involves approximately 120 hours of participation and work
Application Deadline: Summer BERP-A: July 13; Winter BERP-B: December 18; Summer BE-SHSP: email the program at bextship@ucsd.edu
Eligibility: Current high school enrollment in grades 9 through 12; minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0; age 14 or older by the start date for online courses and 15 or older for in-person courses; completion of BE-BOAT and BE-ROW with instructor approval, and completion of BERP-B or BEI2R plus instructor approval to advance to BE-SHSP
In this program, you propose, execute, and present an original bioengineering research project alongside a UC San Diego laboratory. Working under Professor Robert L. Sah with a laboratory mentor and faculty investigator, you study molecular, cellular, and tissue-level questions tied to musculoskeletal medicine, including sports injuries, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and skeletal dysplasias. Your work moves through literature review, research question definition, study design, pilot studies, experimentation, data analysis, and a scientific abstract, paper, and formal presentation. Remote participants receive shipped laboratory kits, while BE-SHSP interns work on site for eight weeks. Specialized lectures, biotechnology and biomedical engineering site visits, and career pathway discussions round out the experience.
9. Duke Community Affairs – MaryAnn Black Summer Internship
Location: Durham, North Carolina; hybrid format
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Dates: July 6–24
Application Deadline: February 21
Eligibility: Durham City or Durham County residents; ages 14 to 21 by June 30; fulfill Durham YouthWorks requirements
In this program, you spend three weeks exploring more than 70 different health care careers at Duke Health, supported by more than 80 Duke employees who volunteer to make the program a reality. Your hybrid schedule pairs virtual sessions with in-person time touring clinical spaces, learning skills, and hearing directly from Duke employees about their careers. Hands-on work sits alongside those tours, including training with cutting-edge surgical equipment. You also complete general test-taking skills training and office and dining etiquette training that build professional readiness. Because the internship runs through Durham YouthWorks, you earn pay while completing workforce readiness training. Past interns describe discovering clinical specialties far beyond nursing and surgery, from CRNAs to pediatrics.
10. Professional Experiences for Kansas City Youth (ProX) – Summer Healthcare Internship
Location: Employer worksites across the six-county Kansas City region — Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties
Stipend: $1,500
Dates: June 1 – July 2
Application Deadline: February 20
Eligibility: Current 9th–12th grade student; ages 14–19 at time of application; residing in and attending high school within the six-county Kansas City service area
In this program, you spend five weeks working on-site with a Kansas City-area healthcare employer, since ProX places interns across more than 20 industries, including healthcare. Medical placements have included Children's Mercy Hospital, where an intern shadowed clinical staff, learned how a dialysis machine works, toured trauma rooms and hospital ambulances, and trained alongside phlebotomists. University Health also participates in ProX each summer. You search and filter open healthcare postings through the ImBlaze platform, prepare a resume, and interview with employers directly at the March hiring fair to secure your placement. A ProX coach supports you through the application, onboarding workshops, and the internship itself.
11. The Pathway Initiative – STEM Research Internship
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Stipend: $15 per hour
Dates: 6 weeks between July and August
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Ages 14–18 and enrolled in high school, from 9th grade through senior year; minimum GPA of 3.5; demonstrated significant financial need, such as Pell Grant or Work-Study eligibility
In this program, you join a Boston-based biomedical internship built for high school students from ninth grade onward who are aiming for medicine, health sciences, or biotech. Across a 10-week school-year session or a six-week hybrid summer session, you take part in hands-on research alongside clinical exposure through an in-person clinical internship experience. You build research readiness by learning to analyze data, present findings, and hold scientific discussions, while sharpening inquiry-based problem-solving. Supporting sessions cover STEM coursework help, leadership and study-skills workshops, financial literacy, campus tours, and college panels, plus one-on-one career mentorship and socio-emotional counseling. You also network at guest-speaker events with Harvard's Cellular Regenerative Biology Department and The Possible Zone.
12. Monell Science Apprenticeship Program
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Cost: Paid, amount not specified; full-time internship
Dates: June 15 – July 31
Application Deadline: January 9
Eligibility: High school freshmen and older, eligible to work in the US, and living in the Greater Philadelphia area
Through this eight-week summer apprenticeship, you can conduct sensory science and health-related research under the guidance of a mentor scientist while gaining hands-on laboratory experience in biomedical research. The program includes full-time paid research activities where you’ll help investigate topics connected to nutrition, sensory perception, and human health, while developing practical lab and data analysis skills. You also participate in enrichment workshops covering scientific communication, public speaking, research writing, and ethical principles in human and animal research. Throughout the program, you can learn about different careers in medicine and science while collaborating with researchers and fellow apprentices. The experience concludes with a public research conference where you’ll present your findings to scientists, family members, and peers.
13. Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center – YES in THE HEIGHTS Program
Location: New York City, New York
Stipend: Paid, amount not disclosed
Dates: High School Scholars: June 29 – August 21; Undergraduate Scholars: June 1 – July 24; structured as a 2-year program across two summers
Application Deadline: January 9
Eligibility: U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required; at least 14 years of age; in good standing at your current school; enrolled in a high school or undergraduate institution for the fall semester following the summer internship; committed to two summers and to full-time in-person work on the Columbia Medical or Morningside campus
In this program, you spend eight weeks at Columbia's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center as a paid intern in cancer research. A faculty mentor from population, clinical, or basic science is matched to your stated research interests, and you either join their existing project or build an independent one. Your days run full-time on the Medical or Morningside campus, blending lab or office work with weekly HICCC Cancer Biology Journal Club sessions where you present and discuss cancer research articles. Past cohorts have also shadowed oncologists at Herbert Irving Pavilion and Milstein Hospital. Returning second-year scholars deliver a scientific oral presentation.
14. CYCE High School Summer Internship Program
Location: Cleveland Clinic Center for Youth and College Education (CYCE), Cleveland, OH
Stipend: $15 per hour
Dates: June 8 – July 28
Application Deadline: February 2
Eligibility: Students in grades 9–12 at time of application; at least 15 years of age by June 1; U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals, or legal permanent residents who live and attend school in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Stark, or Summit County
The CYCE High School Summer Internship Program offers you a paid, seven-week immersive experience to explore medical careers within the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic network. As you navigate the clinical track, you cover diverse medical fields, including behavioral health, laboratory medicine, nursing, OB/GYN, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician roles, radiology, and respiratory care. Throughout the summer, you will work alongside actual caregivers, manage daily clinical responsibilities, participate in career preparedness workshops, and network with healthcare professionals. Uniquely, this program pays you to work full-time at real hospitals and family health centers rather than merely simulating a medical environment.
15. BioMedizone – AI/ML Summer Research Internship
Location: Remote
Cost/Stipend: None
Dates: June 6 – August 8
Application Deadline: May 10
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
In this program, you join a cohort of 20 high school interns exploring how artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied to healthcare and the life sciences. Across sessions, you build a foundational understanding of core AI/ML concepts and develop basic proficiency in Python. Lectures and case studies frame that technical work in biological sciences and healthcare, delivered in collaboration with a mentor specializing in AI/ML. Guided coding labs and collaborative projects turn those concepts into applied project work. You close by presenting a research poster at the Artificial Intelligence in Biosciences Research Summit, where the top three presentations are featured on BioMedizone's website with a Patch News press release.
Questions students often ask about these internships
1. Do I need prior science or research experience to apply to these internships as a freshman?
No, most of these are designed to introduce medical and research careers from the ground up, so no prior experience is expected. A genuine interest in medicine matters more than a science background at this stage.
2. A couple of these programs list an age requirement alongside the grade level. Could that exclude some freshmen?
Yes, a couple set an age floor of 15, which could exclude freshmen who haven't had their birthday yet by the program's start date. Check the specific age cutoff closely if you're a younger freshman.
3. Some of these programs require completing an earlier-level course first. How do I know if I can jump straight in as a freshman?
Check the eligibility section carefully, since one program on this list requires finishing prerequisite courses before advancing to the featured track. Most others on this list don't have that requirement and welcome freshmen directly.