If you’re committed to pursuing a future in healthcare, participating in a medical internship is among the most valuable experiences you can undertake during high school. As a medical intern, you will be placed within real clinical, public-health, or biomedical research environments where you’ll learn how hospitals function, how scientific teams work, and what patient care looks like beyond textbooks. You may also assist with basic lab procedures, observe clinical workflows, contribute to public health projects, or support research teams studying a range of topics, from epidemiology to medical technology.
Many prestigious universities, labs, and institutions offer paid internships for high school students interested in medicine and the healthcare industry. What makes these paid opportunities even more meaningful is access; earning a stipend removes some of the financial barriers that could keep you from committing to full-time summer programs. You’ll have the opportunity to develop practical skills, enhance your college applications, and gain a clearer understanding of your interests in pre-med or STEM fields, all while being compensated for your time and effort.
With that, here are 15 paid medical internships for high school students to explore. If you are interested in medical programs, you can check out our blog here.
15 Paid Medical internships for High School Students
1. NIH – NHGRI Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research
Location: National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH (Bethesda, MD, and associated campuses)
Stipend: Monthly stipend (amount varies by education level)
Program Dates: 8-10 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: February 15 (rolling until filled)
Eligibility: U.S. high school students (17+) enrolled at least half-time in high school or college; Graduating seniors must show fall college admission
The NHGRI Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research is one of the most rigorous federal biomedical research internships available to high school students, offering full immersion in genomics, molecular biology, and computational research at NIH. As a participant, you’ll work under NIH investigators on active genetics projects, learning core lab techniques, data interpretation, and scientific communication workflows. The program includes required attendance at the NIH-wide Summer Seminar Series, where leading scientists discuss emerging research topics at a level accessible to advanced high school students. You’ll also participate in NHGRI’s own professional-development seminars focused on research careers, ethics, and mentorship. The internship culminates in presenting a scientific poster at NIH Summer Poster Day, giving you experience in abstract writing, visual communication, and answering questions from NIH researchers.
2. Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR)
Location: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
Stipend: $500 – $1,500
Program Dates: June 8 – July 30
Application Deadline: December 19 – February 21
Eligibility: U.S. high school current juniors or seniors (16+)
SIMR places you in an eight-week biomedical research lab where you’ll contribute to a focused project in fields such as immunology, cancer biology, regenerative medicine, stem cell engineering, or bioinformatics. You’ll work directly with Stanford researchers and learn techniques like cell culture, PCR workflows, protein assays, and computational data analysis using tools such as R, Python, or ImageJ, depending on your assigned lab. You will follow a structured protocol sequence from hypothesis formation, assay execution, data cleaning, and interpretation, with guidance from lab mentors. You’ll also attend research seminars that clarify experimental design and clinical translation pathways.
3. Memorial Sloan Kettering: Summer Student Program (SSP)
Location: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Stipend: $1,200
Program Dates: June 29 – August 21
Application Deadline: December 1 – February 6
Eligibility: High school juniors (14+) living in NY, NJ, or CT within 25 miles of MSK; Must have a 3.5+ science GPA and be legally authorized to work in the U.S.
This internship places you in an MSK research lab where you’ll contribute to a defined biomedical or computational research project. You’ll work under a dedicated mentor while learning technical skills such as cell culture, PCR workflows, protein assays, microscopy preparation, or computational genomics using tools like Python, R, or statistical analysis packages. You’ll follow a structured research workflow, from protocol execution to data cleaning and preliminary interpretation. You’ll also participate in lab meetings and professional-development sessions that show how experimental results translate into clinical oncology research. Research areas span cancer biology, immuno-oncology, pharmacology, chemical biology, and imaging technologies, making the program suitable for students aiming for exposure to both wet-lab and computational pipelines.
4. St. Jude High School Research Immersion Program
Location: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
Stipend: $4,800
Program Dates: June 1 – July 25
Application Deadline: January 31
Eligibility: Current high school juniors (16+) from Memphis-Shelby County and surrounding counties in TN, MS, and AR; Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA
This eight-week full-time internship places you in a St. Jude research lab, where you’ll work on mentored projects in pediatric biomedical science, psychology, epidemiology, clinical research, or data science. You’ll work in pairs under a research mentor, gaining experience with discipline-specific tools and workflows such as molecular assays, imaging techniques, behavioral data coding, epidemiologic data pipelines, or computational analysis methods, depending on placement. You will also complete a scientific poster and present your findings at a community exhibition, supported by structured sessions on scientific communication and inquiry. The program integrates both daily lab immersion and reflective work with science educators, giving you exposure to rigorous research methods and perspectives on scientific identity.
5. MD Anderson’s Carl B. & Florence E. King Foundation High School Summer Program
Location: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Stipend: $7,200
Program Dates: June 1 – August 7
Application Deadline: November 17 – January 14
Eligibility: Current Texas high school seniors (18+) entering college in the fall; Must be interested in allied health or biomedical fields
This 10-week biomedical internship places you inside an MD Anderson research lab, where you’ll work full-time on a supervised project using core techniques in cellular biology, diagnostics, imaging, or clinical data workflows. You’ll spend most of your day in the lab applying experimental procedures, maintaining data logs, analyzing results, and learning the fundamentals of biomedical research from faculty investigators. Weekly seminars will introduce you to research design, lab ethics, and scientific communication, and by the end of the program, you’ll be expected to prepare an abstract, poster, and short presentation summarizing your findings. You will rotate through lab meetings and skill-based workshops, gaining exposure to real research culture and interdisciplinary teamwork. The program is designed to help you clarify your academic pathways in allied health, clinical science, or medical technology while building early proficiency with laboratory protocols and research documentation standards.
6. Mass General Youth Neurology Education and Research Program
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Stipend: Paid (exact amount not listed)
Program Dates: June 30 – August 8
Application Deadline: November 1 – January 31
Eligibility: High school rising seniors or recent graduates in Massachusetts; Additional eligibility details may apply
The Mass General Youth Neurology Education and Research Program places you in an active neurology or neuroscience research environment where you’ll work directly with clinicians and lab teams on defined research questions. You may learn core lab techniques used in neurobiology, such as microscopy workflows, basic wet lab procedures, quantitative analysis of neural data, and structured literature review methods. The program emphasizes mentored research, giving you guided exposure to experimental design, data interpretation, and scientific writing. You’ll also attend the INSPIRE Speaker Series, which expands your understanding of subspecialties across neurology and the tools clinicians use, such as EEG analysis pipelines or neuroimaging datasets.
7. Indiana CTSI: SEED/STEM Summer Research Program
Location: IU Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
Stipend: Up to $4,000
Program Dates: June 8 – July 30
Application Deadline: November 1 – March 1
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores, juniors, or seniors in Indiana; Additional stipend eligibility requirements apply.
This eight-week program places you in research labs working on projects that span medicine, biomedical engineering, chemistry, life sciences, and translational health research. You will work full-time in academic or industry labs and learn techniques such as experimental assay design, basic wet-lab workflows, imaging analysis, or computational tools used in biological and clinical research environments. You’ll receive structured mentorship while contributing to ongoing research and developing skills in data collection, documentation, and scientific communication. You’ll also produce a research poster that synthesizes your methods and findings, giving you practice in scientific presentation.
8. IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center: Future Scientist Program
Location: IU School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
Stipend: Paid
Program Dates: June 8 – July 31
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: High school juniors attending a Marion County public high school; Must have a minimum 3.0 GPA and be able to obtain a work permit if under 16
This program places you in an active cancer research lab where you’ll contribute to an independent project under the guidance of the IU School of Medicine faculty. You may learn foundational wet-lab workflows such as pipetting, assay preparation, microscopy handling, or basic molecular biology techniques, depending on your assigned lab. You will participate in structured research tasks that introduce data collection, documentation, and interpretation within a cancer-focused research environment. Mentorship includes guidance on experimental design and exposure to translational oncology concepts, helping you understand how lab findings connect to patient-centered research. The full-time schedule provides practical experience in scientific responsibility and daily lab operations.
9. Broad Summer Scholars Program
Location: Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA
Stipend: $3,600
Program Dates: June 29 – August 7
Application Deadline: November 24 – January 21
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors attending a high school in MA (within commuting distance); Must have a “B” or more in science and math classes
The Broad Summer Scholars Program is a six-week intensive program that places you in a research project at Broad Institute, where you’ll focus on areas such as cancer biology, psychiatric disease, computational biology, or chemical biology. You will work with a scientist mentor, learn both experimental and computational methods (e.g., wet-lab assays, genomic analysis, bioinformatics pipelines), and produce a scientific poster at the end of the summer. The program also includes scientific talks, a college fair, transport reimbursement, and tutor support for any domain training. It’s structured to give high school students a genuine research lab experience, not simply observation, but active contribution to biomedical research.
10. Monell Science Apprenticeship Program (MSAP)
Location: Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA
Stipend: Paid
Program Dates: June 15 – July 31
Application Deadline: October 27 – January 9
Eligibility: High school students typically underrepresented in the science fields from the Greater Philadelphia area (including Camden, NJ)
This apprenticeship assigns you to a Monell research lab for a structured full-time project in sensory biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, or related biomedical domains. You’ll work directly with scientists on experiments involving data collection, lab assays, imaging techniques, or molecular protocols, depending on the lab’s focus. The program integrates scientific communication training, including sessions on poster creation, public speaking, and ethics in human and animal research. As an apprentice, you’ll get to present your work at a public conference, gaining experience in synthesizing results and discussing methodology with experts.
11. Young Scholars Summer STEMM Research Programs
Location: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Cost/Stipend: Free; Monetary award offered (amount not publicly listed)
Program Dates: June 20 – August 1
Application Deadline: February
Eligibility: Rising 10th-12th graders from IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, IA, and WI; AEOP track has additional restrictions
As a participant in this program, you will join a UIUC research team and contribute to active projects across medicine, engineering, and computational science for six weeks. Depending on placement, you may work in labs focusing on neuroscience, cancer immunology, molecular physiology, biomedical engineering, or human health studies. You will complete 30-35 hours per week of hands-on lab work, data collection, computational analysis, and scientific documentation. Weekly seminars cover scientific communication, poster development, and professional skills, culminating in a formal research symposium. This program is well-suited for students seeking medically oriented STEMM research with structured mentorship across university labs.
12. Children’s Hospital Colorado: Child Health Research Internship
Location: Children’s Hospital Colorado & University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
Stipend: $4,400
Program Dates: June 1 – July 31
Application Deadline: December 1 – February 1
Eligibility: Colorado high school seniors (18+)
The Child Health Research Internship is a nine-week internship that places you in a pediatric research lab, where you’ll work alongside faculty in areas such as developmental biology, clinical pediatrics, epidemiology, molecular mechanisms of childhood disease, or translational child-health research. You’ll participate in weekly research seminars, receive structured mentorship, and work with tools common in pediatric research, such as molecular assays, imaging workflows, statistical analysis, or clinical data pipelines, depending on your mentor’s lab. You will also be expected to complete a written research summary and present an oral or poster presentation at the end of the program.
13. Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program (SHIP)
Location: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA
Stipend: Paid
Program Dates: June 22 – August 14
Application Deadline: January 19 – March 13
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors (16+) residing in Greater Seattle or surrounding areas
The Fred Hutch Summer High School Internship Program introduces you to core wet-lab and computational techniques through a structured two-week training phase followed by a mentored research placement in a Fred Hutch laboratory. You’ll work with active research teams in fields like cancer biology, infectious disease, metabolism, computational biology, or chemical sciences while learning professional lab safety, assay workflows, and basic data analysis. The program integrates seminar-style scientific talks, career development workshops, and group activities to help you understand how large research institutions operate. You’ll also build a research poster based on your project findings and present it to scientists, peers, and family at the end-of-program symposium.
14. Wistar High School Fellowship in Biomedical Research
Location: The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA
Stipend: $1,500
Program Dates: 4 weeks in July
Application Deadline: Opens in January
Eligibility: High school students (16+); Must have completed at least one high school science course; Priority given to Philadelphia School District students
The Wistar High School Fellowship in Biomedical Research places you inside Wistar’s Training Lab, where you’ll work with real molecular techniques used in cancer, immunology, and infectious disease research. You’ll practice sterile technique, pipetting, microscopy, basic molecular assays, and learn to interpret scientific literature alongside Wistar researchers. You will also get to contribute directly to ongoing biomedical projects and end the program with a presentation of your findings at a closing symposium. Weekly sessions expose you to different research careers, lab workflows, and critical thinking skills used in medical research environments.
15. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) Summer Internship Program
Location: J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD, or La Jolla, CA
Stipend: $17.50/hour
Program Dates: 10-15 weeks from May – August
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions; Opens in March
Eligibility: High school students (16+) with a minimum 3.0 GPA
This internship places you inside one of the world’s leading genomics labs, working on real research in microbial genomics, synthetic biology, infectious disease, or computational biology. You’ll work directly with a JCVI scientist, learn wet-lab techniques (pipetting, culture work, sequencing workflows) or computational tools (Python, R, genome assemblies), and contribute to project-level analyses. You’ll also attend journal clubs, multi-disciplinary seminars, and career development workshops designed for early researchers. The internship ends with a judged poster presentation, where you’ll summarize your data and research findings to the JCVI faculty. The compensation is hourly and tied to your academic level, making it one of the more accessible high-school research internships in genomics.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, and chemistry, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image source – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign