News Release

March 31, 2010

Contact: Chris DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914
e-mail: cdefrancesco@uchc.edu

Mini Medical/Dental School Under Way at UConn Health Center

Connecticut High School Students Will Get Diplomas Following 8-Week Program

FARMINGTON, CONN. – More than 80 juniors and seniors from high schools throughout Connecticut are taking part in this year’s High School Mini Medical/Dental School Program at the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Since March 4, the students have been meeting on Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m., each time hearing two one-hour presentations on varying health and science topics. Sixty-five students participate in person at the Health Center’s Low Learning Center; 21 others join remotely via webcast. The program runs through April 22, when the students will “graduate,” earning diplomas.

“The goal is to inform and excite students about cutting-edge basic science research that is being conducted by some of the outstanding professors at the Health Center,” says Dr. Marja Hurley, associate dean of the UConn School of Medicine and director of UConn’s Health Career Opportunities Programs. “These students also receive lectures from outstanding physicians and dentists who provide care to patients.”

More information about the Health Career Opportunities Programs at the UConn Health Center is available at www.hcop.uchc.edu.

Students from 18 Connecticut high schools are participating in the 2010 High School Mini Medical/Dental School Program:

  • Avon High School
  • Bloomfield High School
  • Bristol Eastern High School
  • Cheshire High School
  • Danbury High School
  • Farmington High School
  • Glastonbury High School
  • Bulkeley High School
  • Hartford Area Seventh Day Adventist School
  • Sport and Medical Sciences Academy
  • University High School of Science and Engineering
  • Mercy High School
  • Simsbury High School
  • Chase Collegiate School
  • Crosby High School
  • Conard High School
  • Hall High School
  • Windsor High School

Photos: http://today.uchc.edu/images/news/minimed1.jpg and http://today.uchc.edu/images/news/minimed2.jpg
Caption: Dr. Leighton Huey, professor of psychiatry at the UConn School of Medicine, speaks to students attending the High School Mini Medical/Dental School Program at the UConn Health Center. The program runs through April 22, when more than 80 juniors and seniors from 18 Connecticut High Schools will earn diplomas.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

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