The Health Scholars Program

About the Program

The Health Scholars Program at Maimonides Medical Center offers an opportunity for high school and college students who are interested in a career in healthcare to spend time as an unpaid team-member in the Emergency Department of the busiest hospital in Brooklyn.

Maimonides Medical Center is a large teaching hospital based in the heart of immigrant Brooklyn, New York. The Emergency Department cares for over 120,000 patients each year. This internship is aimed at students considering a future in healthcare such as physician, nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physical therapist, psychologist, social worker or paramedic. Selected individuals will be part of a corps of interns who will interact with and help patients from tremendously varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds. They will spend time working along side a team of healthcare providers and observing the roles of various medical professionals who care for patients in the Emergency Department (ED). Additionally, they will be introduced to fundamental principles of clinical medicine.

Participants in this program will assist in patient care under the guidance of the ED team and support staff members who are caring for patients, while also receiving an introduction to healthcare and clinical medicine. Interns will spend time rotating through various areas of the ED, including the main adult ED and the pediatric ED.

Participants will perform a variety of functions with the primary goals of helping patients and assisting ED staff. Activities will include speaking with patients and hearing their stories, clarifying their needs, improving communication, and being helpful in ways that improve patient experience in the ED. Interns will be viewed as a member of the healthcare team and will gain exposure to how a busy urban ED operates. In addition to communicating the needs of the patient to the ED physician and nursing staff, interns will assist with other basic but essential patient-oriented tasks. They will strive to create a rapport with patients and serve the indispensable role of helping and comforting patients and their families during their time in the ED and assuaging some of their anxieties about being in a hospital.

For those who are interested, there may be an opportunity to participate in ongoing Emergency Department research projects. Such individuals will need to undertake an additional mandatory training module.

For any questions please email: healthscholars.maimonides@gmail.com

Application link: https://tinyurl.com/health-scholars-app
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Schedule and Application Deadlines

2025-2026 Academic Year

Requirements

A complete application for the program includes submission of all required forms, a brief essay explaining one’s interest in the program (not to exceed 500 words) or a brief video in lieu of an essay, documentation of vaccination status including COVID and Flu, and a brief letter of recommendation. A virtual interview lasting 15 minutes will be scheduled upon submission of the essay and application form.

Those who have been accepted to the program will be informed by email and will be processed as volunteers through the Department of Volunteer and Student Services at Maimonides Medical Center. The process includes completing the volunteer application and medical packets, in-person interview, and a 3-hour mandatory orientation in the Volunteer Office.

Eligibility

High school students in 11th and 12th grade, as well as college students are eligible to participate in the program.

Attendance

The internship will last for three months. Participants will be expected to work one five-hour shift per week. Attendance will be monitored. Participants are expected to arrive 10 minutes before the beginning of their shift in order to be ready to start on time. If an intern is unable to make it to their shift, they should inform the program. It is expected that the intern will make up the shift in the same week. We understand that academic deadlines and exam periods will occasionally coincide with ED shifts. The purpose of this experience is to enhance one’s academic career, not to create excessive pressure, and we will work to accommodate academic scheduling conflicts. On the rotation that occurs during the summer, when school is not in session, interns may have the opportunity to do more shifts per week than the single shift mentioned above.

Education and Career Pathways

As a component of the program, there will be weekly virtual and in-person lectures given by ED staff on topics in healthcare and clinical medicine. There will be presentations on healthcare careers, as well as lectures on pathology, physiology, and the care of a patient.

There will be a weekly Emergency Medicine resident conference each Wednesday morning that currently alternates between remote and in-person. Participants are invited to take part, however it is not mandatory.