Pipeline Programs
Pathways to careers in medicine, science and research starts here
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K-12 Pipeline Programs
Aims to promote greater health and wellness outcomes in at-risk older adults, while simultaneously supporting greater academic and behavioral outcomes for children in grades kindergarten through 3rd grade.
The GenX Program places older community volunteers into grades K-3 elementary school classrooms to help students improve reading and math skills. Designed as a truly intergenerational program, GenX contributes to each generation it serves.The program promotes health in the older adult volunteers by appealing to their interest in children, drawing these adults participants into a structured program that provides social, physical, and cognitive activities. In turn, GenX seeks to improve academic and behavioral outcomes for children, with particular attention to support for reading proficiency. Successful educational trajectories have been shown to depend on learning to read by third grade (e.g., children who fail to achieve such proficiency are significantly more likely to drop out of school before they graduate from high school).
Family Medicine Bridging the Gap
Partners the UCLA Family Medicine Residency program with local high schools in the communities the residency serves in order to bring role models and medical education to underserved and underrepresented communities. Our ultimate goal is to develop student leaders that will become leaders in healthcare who will serve the underserved communities they grew up in. We aim to build interest in the field of medicine, and provide skills-building experiences that will help promote matriculation and retention in higher education and the health sciences.
Long Beach Polytechnic High School Biomedical Research Program
Students with an interest in biomedical research enroll in a semester-long, for-credit honors program in which they receive instruction in experimental design, patient safety and ethics; and mentored research at one of the CTSI medical-research sites—either UCLA, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center or the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. High school seniors taking honors courses or advanced placement courses are eligible to enroll. The program accepts 10-17 students each year. The course is 21 weeks long, six hours per week consisting of activities at LB Poly and activities at one of the three medical centers. Activities at LB Poly include journal club, seminars, and biomedical ethics discussions.The course concludes with student presentations of each project at a poster presentation which is held at Cedars-Sinai.
Pre-Med Summer Scholar Program
The Pre-Med Summer Scholar Program is an intense, one-week, primarily educational program incorporating medical guest speakers and hospital-related tours and activities giving the Summer Scholar an involved sense of working within the field of medicine.
Turner-UCLA Allied Health Internship Program
The Turner UCLA Allied Health Internship is implemented by the UCLA Community Engagement Program, in partnership with Bobby and Lauren Turner, to provide learning opportunities for high school students and recent graduates in finding out more about careers in the entry-level, allied health professions. The one-week long, summer internship program is designed to address workforce shortages and offers career education for students from under-resourced communities who express interest in learning about health care career opportunities.
Allied Healthcare Careers Program
The UCLA Allied Healthcare Careers Program offers education on career pathways in the healthcare field to students across various high schools in Los Angeles County. This pipeline program teaches students about opportunities in healthcare that offer promising career growth in areas facing critical workforce shortages. Allied health professionals support physicians and nurses by playing supportive roles in prehospital care, service delivery, rehabilitation, and disease prevention. Recruiting these positions from our community aims to support our goals of diversifying our future workforce.
The UCLA MATCH (Mentorship and Advocacy in Teaching Clinical Health-Related Research) is a pilot program designed for high school students from communities underrepresented in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) to increase diversity in the scientific community through career mentorship and education supporting clinical research pathways in medicine. UCLA MATCH students are paired with undergraduate UCLA students from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Research Associates Program (CTSI-RAP), to participate in 8 weeks of didactic lectures and small group activities centered around patient-oriented research.
Undergraduate Programs
School of Dentistry General Clinical Volunteer
The clinic volunteer program is an 80-hour, 6-month commitment for undergraduate students who are interested in a career in dentistry. The program is designed to provide students with a multi-faceted introduction to patient care as delivered in a dental school environment. Volunteers will be introduced to and gain experience in several areas including patient intake and screening clinic, chartroom and billing office, central sterilization services, teaching laboratories, and special projects from the Office of the Clinic Director. Upon successful completion of the program, volunteers can request a letter of recommendation from the Administrator. This program is only offered during the fall, winter or spring quarters.
MEDPEP is a medical preparation and education pipeline program designed to support low-income Latino and other underrepresented minority (URM) students through their community college experience and transition to four-year universities and health professional programs. MEDPEP's program components include personal, academic, and leadership development; conference and research participation; and peer mentoring support.
UCLA Pathways focuses on ensuring the success of underrepresented and disadvantaged undergraduate students at UCLA who wish to pursue careers in maternal and child health (MCH) professions.
UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program
The UCLA Public Health Scholars Training Program provides undergraduate students the opportunity to explore the field of public health through hands-on training, structured workshops, group events, volunteering opportunities, and leadership and professional development. The program offers scholars the opportunity to train at UCLA, to explore public health in one of the most diverse counties in the US, and to experience the city’s vibrant culture. We work with community-based organizations, health systems, and government agencies to offer field placement opportunities for scholars that focus on health equity.
UCLA/DREW Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP)
The UCLA/CDU SHPEP mission is to serve as a model learning community in which students examine a variety of healthcare issues affecting medically underserved communities through problem-based learning cases, lectures, clinical experiences, small-group discussions, and a research project. Students will also improve their learning skills and strengthen their foundation in science. Upon completion of this six-week program, students will be more aware of the urgent need for health care professionals in medically underserved communities and of the educational pathways that lead to providing medical, nursing, and dental and health services to underserved populations.
Professional Pipeline Programs
TL1 Summer Programs/Predoctoral Programs
This summer fellowship is an introduction to mentored research training for health professional students focusing on health systems science. The program will provide each individual with exposure to the practice of implementation science in clinical settings, public health program design and evaluation, community-partnered research, and health policy design, with a focus on population health. This fellowship will help students uncover lessons for translational research, specifically, implications for meeting the unique needs of entire populations and addressing health disparities.
UCLA Dental Post-Baccalaureate Program
This program helps guide underrepresented, disadvantaged college students through the dental school application process. Despite the many challenges these students face, they perform well enough in college that an additional year of improving their academic record will make them competitive dental school applicants. The 1-year program provides students with comprehensive, hands-on experience at a dental school to help increase their chances of being accepted to a DDS program.
MD Pipeline Programs
Project Search is a program for adults with developmental disabilities, coping with disorders that range from autism to intellectual disabilities. Participants are placed in specific jobs at the hospital to build their skills through a 12 month training program.
UCLA Pre-medical Enrichment Program (UCLA PREP)
This annual program gives medical students the opportunity to learn about residency programs at UCLA, meet residents and faculty of historically underrepresented backgrounds, and engage with leadership from multiple departments. The program will include a welcome from the UCLA's Minority Housestaff Organization and the Office for Justice, Equity and Diversity Inclusion, as well as sessions navigating the residency application process, a Program Director panel, sharing what programs look for in a candidate and how to prepare yourself to be the best candidate possible.
UCLA Re-Application Program (UCLA RAP)
RAP is an 11-month program that is conducted in two sessions. The Summer sessions begins June to July and the Academic year session that runs from September through May for each cohort.
The summer program begins with an intensive six-week summer session, focused upon prerequisite science review and on MCAT preparation. Distinguished guest lecturers will also provide seminars and workshops discussing; academic skills; extensive and lively reviews of biology, chemistry, and physics; self-development, time management; financial planning; medical school re-application, and interviewing skills. Current medical students and former RAP participants provide supporting mentoring and meetings to RAP students.