April 14, 2015
The University of Pennsylvania’s Educational Pipeline Program, a partnership between the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and the Perelman School of Medicine, is expanding to serve students in all four years of high school.
The program has worked with West Philadelphia students since 1998, providing them with the opportunity to get more involved with science outside the classroom, interacting with practicing researchers and doctors, as well as undergrads and graduate students at Penn.
The Pipeline Program, which began with curricula on gastroenterology and neurology for ninth- and 10th-grade students, expanded this past year to offer an 11th-grade program focused on cardiology.
“The big focus of the program is how to get students, particularly minorities, interested in STEM-based fields,” Sharon Lewis, director of the Pipeline Program and an assistant professor of clinical neurology at Penn Medicine, said in a statement. “These new additions will give really nice, different perspectives on health care, and help foster the students’ interest in science.”
In the fall, the program will add a 12th-grade curriculum focused on veterinary medicine to be led by Brittany Watson, director of shelter medicine and community engagement at Penn Vet. Students at the program’s primary partner school, Sayre High School in West Philadelphia, will explore the similarities between human and animal medicine, as well as learn about ethics and empathy.
The new program is adapted from Watson’s dissertation project, an outreach program she implemented in South Carolina high schools.
Read more about the program expansion.
