OVERVIEW

For over two decades the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS) has promoted a national symposium to: 1) expose underrepresented minority and other high school and undergraduate students to a wide spectrum of career opportunities in biomedical sciences and health professions fields; and 2) provide mentors and role models to facilitate and encourage students to pursue careers in the biomedical sciences and health professions.

Annual Symposium was established in 1987 in conjunction with the centennial anniversary of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The Symposium is a two and a half day event that allows a diverse group of students the opportunity to interact with well-known minority professionals from a wide spectrum of biomedical sciences and health professions. The Symposium is also an opportunity for biomedical and health professionals to encourage students to enter their respective fields. Participants are exposed to various biomedical career opportunities through educational workshops, video presentations, interactive sessions, exhibits/posters and entertainment aimed at engaging and motivating students to continue their strong performance and focus on biomedical careers. Over the past fifteen years, well over 10,000 students have participated in the Symposium.



Past speakers include: Mark Clanton, MD, MPH
Deputy Director NCI and Deputy Director for Cancer Care Delivery Systems

The Three Doctors: Sampson Davis, MD, Rameck R. Hunt, MD, George E. Jenkins, MD

Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., 17th Surgeon General of the United States

Keith L. Black, M.D., Director of Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Debi Thomas, M.D., Orthopedic Surgery Resident, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Benjamin Carson, Sr., M.D.
Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery, John Hopkins Medical Institution

Marilyn Hughes Gaston, M.D., Former Director, Bureau of Primary Health Care and Ret. Former Assistant Surgeon General

Debbye Turner, D.V.M., Former Miss America and CBS Correspondent. Reed Tuckson, MD, Senior VP of Consumer Health & Medical Care Advancement, United Health group

M. Joycelyn Elders, MD, 15TH Surgeon General of the United States  

ELIGIBILITY

High School Applicants

• Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores are eligible to apply.
• Must be involved in an HCOP or other health professions pipeline program OR approved science enrichment program*
• Must have a minimum cumulative 2.5 grade point average
• Must be an under-represented racial or ethnic minority student as defined by the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (OMHD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): American Indian & Alaska Native (AI/AN), Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, and/or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) - http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/Populations/populations.htm.
  *The science enrichment program must be coordinated by a high school science teacher (or equivalent) and conducted in conjunction/partnership with a local school district or college/university

Undergraduate Applicants

• Must be enrolled fulltime in an accredited undergraduate institution.
• Must have declared a major in or is considering majoring in the health professions fields or STEM disciplines
• Must be involved in an HCOP or other health professions pipeline program affiliated with an undergraduate institution
• Must have a minimum cumulative 2.5 grade point average
• Must be an under-represented racial or ethnic minority student as defined by the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (OMHD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): American Indian & Alaska Native (AI/AN), Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, and/or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) - http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/Populations/populations.htm.