This spring, the Stanford Health Career Collaborative (HCC) welcomed approximately 28 students from East Palo Alto Academy and Eastside College Preparatory School to Stanford Medicine for a transformative field trip. The unique MD/PA student-led mentorship program, founded at Stanford in 2019, serves young learners from various backgrounds through biweekly visits to partner schools throughout the year.
Unlike typical one-time volunteer efforts, HCC builds sustainable relationships where students and mentors know each other by name, inviting clinicians, PAs, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals into local schools to share their experiences and career pathways.
The day-long event immersed students in hands-on experiences with cutting-edge medical technology. Participants rotated through activities: one group wrote letters to their future selves and toured campus with current medical students. Another group practiced tying surgical knots and operated the sophisticated Da Vinci robotic surgical system at the Goodman Surgical Education Center. All participants visited the anatomy lab to examine specimens including a healthy knee, a knee replacement with metal components, and a human brain. The day concluded with lunch alongside medical student mentors and a physician panel offering insight into diverse medical specialties.
The impact was evident in students' reactions throughout the day. A student remarked that she was smiling because her future was so bright, while another participant shared, "The HCC program has helped me direct my path of what I want to do and how to get there. If it weren't for HCC, I would never expect myself to go into medicine." An HCC volunteer noted hearing students exclaim, "Wow, I'm going to be a great surgeon," adding that "so many students were sharing how they felt that the future had so much in store for them."
Ariana Afshari, an incoming medical student at Stanford School of Medicine, was a former 8th grade science teacher at a Title I school that served many of these same students. For her, the continuity in mentorship and providing representation and exposure makes a huge difference in students' sense of what is possible for them. Afshari, a program leader with HCC, noted hearing students exclaim during their field trip, “Wow, I'm going to be a great surgeon,” adding that “so many students were sharing how they felt that the future had so much in store for them.”
For program leader Siwaar Abouhala, MD student, HCC serves as a crucial bridge between Stanford and neighboring communities just miles away. "Even though Stanford is in the backyard of many of these students, there are gaps and access issues," explained one mentor, with the ultimate goal of seeing participants return to Stanford as future undergraduates or medical students. As one student put it, "HCC is giving everybody the opportunity, no matter your race, who you are, gender—if you're human, you can do anything you want."
