Application Deadline for Summer Health Professions Education Program Approaching

The deadline to apply for the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) at LSU Health New Orleans is March 1, 2017. The free six-week summer enrichment program is for underrepresented or disadvantaged college freshmen and sophomores who are interested in the fields of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy or public health. LSU Health New Orleans is one of 13 sites across the nation where the program will take place this year. To apply, click here.

SHPEP's goal is to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools. To be eligible, at the time of application the student must be a college freshman or sophomore, have an overall GPA of at least 2.5 and be a US citizen, a permanent resident, or an individual granted deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) status by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Other factors for consideration include identification with a group that is racially/ethnically underrepresented in the health professions, an economically or educationally disadvantaged background or a demonstrated interest in issues affecting underserved populations.

The LSU Health New Orleans program dates are May 30 - July 6, 2017. Students will participate in academic enrichment in the basic sciences and math, career development activities directed toward exploration of the health professions and the admissions process, learning skills workshops and sessions and workshops on financial literacy and planning, and a health policy seminar series to expose scholars to a larger view of health care. Participants will be introduced to interprofessional education and effective collaboration across the health professions. As Louisiana’s most comprehensive academic health sciences center, LSU Health New Orleans has been in the vanguard of interprofessional education of health professions students nationally. Participants will also gain clinical exposure through seminars and shadowing of highly experienced clinicians in small-group clinical rotations in medicine and dentistry. Additionally, the Clinical Simulation Laboratory Experiences in Small Learning Groups will introduce students to clinical reasoning and practice of patient history taking and health care interactions with patients through role playing. Students will be provided the opportunity to study the cardiovascular system from the points of view of public health (chronic disease), medicine and clinical skills integration, dentistry with clinical skills integration, and pharmacogenetics (in collaboration with HBCU partner Xavier University of Louisiana, College of Pharmacy).

“The Summer Health Professions Education Program at LSU Health New Orleans is strongly committed to increasing the number of students from underrepresented/underserved, rural, and/or disadvantaged backgrounds who are skilled, confident, and motivated to remain and succeed in challenging academic programs/majors that are designed to support health sciences careers,” notes Allison Augustus-Wallace, PhD, Assistant Professor and Program Director in the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.

SHPEP is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with direction and technical assistance provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Dental Education Association (ADEA).