Public health research sits at the intersection of science, policy, and lived experience. It includes everything from tracking disease outbreaks and analyzing health data to studying environmental exposures, evaluating healthcare systems, and addressing disparities in access to care. In practice, that means asking structured questions: Who is affected? Why are outcomes unequal? What intervention would actually work and how would we measure its impact? Public health research can involve statistical modeling, qualitative interviews, lab-based investigation, geographic mapping, policy analysis, or community-based fieldwork. At its core, it’s about using evidence to improve health at the population level rather than focusing only on individual treatment. If you’re drawn to big-picture problem-solving and data-driven decision-making, this field gives you the tools to investigate complex health challenges systematically.
Why should you choose a research program?
A structured research program gives you something far more valuable than a general summer experience, it gives you practice to think like a researcher. You define questions, evaluate evidence, analyze data, and communicate conclusions. You gain exposure to mentorship, professional standards, and research workflows that aren’t taught in most high school classrooms. You also learn how to handle ambiguity when data is incomplete, results are mixed, or conclusions require nuance. That kind of training strengthens your academic foundation and prepares you for college-level coursework in public health, medicine, biology, statistics, or social sciences. It also helps you determine whether you genuinely enjoy research before committing to it long-term.
To make that search easier, we’ve curated a list of 15 public health research programs for high school students that provide mentorship, hands-on investigation, and meaningful academic depth, so you can compare options that go beyond surface-level exposure and align with a serious interest in the field.
For more research related blogs, you can read here and here.
15 Public Health Research Programs for High School Students
1. Tulane University: Futures in Public Health
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana (Tulane University Campus)
Cost: $995 (1-week Commuter Enrichment); $5,495 (2-week Residential Enrichment); limited need-based aid and the Louisiana Promise Scholarship are available
Dates: Multiple 1-week and 2-week sessions running between June 14 and July 25
Application Deadline: April 24
Eligibility: Current high school students
The Tulane Futures in Public Health program is an immersive summer experience where you will explore the science, policy, and communication behind today’s most pressing health issues. You will dive into diverse topics like health equity, nutrition, epidemiology, and environmental health. During the program, you will participate in collaborative learning exercises, engage with expert guest speakers, and go on local field trips to see public health in action. The program involves a holistic approach, treating the city of New Orleans as a living laboratory for real-world environmental and health equity challenges. Ultimately, you will build essential skills in analytical thinking, policy evaluation, and health communication.
2. Boston University – Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) Internship – Public Health Track
Location: Boston University, Boston, MA
Cost: $5,930 + $75 non-refundable application fee + $485 service fees; Housing & Dining options include: Housing + 14 meals/wk: $3,978, Housing + 19 meals/wk: $4,320; limited financial aid is available
Dates: June 28 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 4
Eligibility: Students entering their senior year of high school in the fall who are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents
The RISE Internship places students within active research labs where expectations mirror those of early undergraduate researchers. In the public health track, work often includes managing datasets, conducting literature reviews, assisting with statistical analysis, and understanding how variables are operationalized in epidemiological research. Mentors train you on how to define a precise question, control for confounders, and interpret findings. Weekly workshops reinforce responsible research conduct, ethics in human-subjects research, and the mechanics of communicating complex ideas to varied audiences. The final poster symposium requires students to present methods, results, and limitations with clarity.
3. Stony Brook University Public Health Summer Program
Location: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Cost: Residential: $2,375 | Commuter: $1,000–1,250; discounts and financial assistance are available
Dates: July 5–10
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors ages 15–17; U.S. residents
This program introduces public health through an analytical lens that prioritizes systems thinking and applied reasoning. Faculty-led sessions explore prevention strategies, policy formation, emergency preparedness, and community health through current case examples. You are encouraged to dissect public health claims by examining the underlying data, identifying stakeholders, and recognizing practical constraints. Topics such as healthcare access disparities, climate-linked health risks, and behavioral health impacts are examined through structured discussion and guided analysis. Interactive components challenge students to evaluate trade-offs in intervention strategies and consider feasibility in real-world contexts.
4. University of Washington: INSIGHT High School Program
Location: Online
Cost: $2,200; select scholarship opportunities are available
Dates: July 6–31
Application Deadline: May 18
Eligibility: Current high school students entering grades 10-12 or recently graduated
The UW INSIGHT High School Program is a four-week virtual summer experience where you will explore public health, biomedical research, and medicine. Your primary focus will be on injury and violence prevention, social justice, and health disparities. During the program, you will attend daily online seminars, collaborate with peers in small groups, and analyze data for a research project. The program holds a specialized status as the only high school-level injury and violence prevention program in the country. To finish, you will present a public health capstone project at the end-of-program Symposium. Through these activities, you will learn critical thinking, public speaking, public health data collection, and data visualization skills.
5. StatStart at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Location: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Cost: None
Dates: 1 month in July
Application Deadline: Early to mid-April
Eligibility: Rising 11th and 12th-grade students from low-income backgrounds and/or who will be the first in their family to attend college | Students not meeting these criteria are still permitted to apply | Students must be able to commute to Boston, have basic knowledge of algebra, and intend to study STEM in college
StatStart is a rigorous, one-month summer program hosted by the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It develops quantitative reasoning within a public health framework, centering statistical literacy and computational analysis. Instruction in R programming and statistical modeling is immediately applied to health-related datasets, reinforcing conceptual understanding through practice. You examine variability, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing within real analytical contexts. Mentorship from graduate students supports troubleshooting, model selection, and interpretation of ambiguous or unexpected results. The final project requires a data-driven presentation that showcases methodological reasoning and responsible interpretation of uncertainty.
6. Rutgers University: PHocus (Public Health: Outbreaks, Communities, and Urban Studies)
Location: Rutgers School of Public Health (Piscataway, NJ)
Cost: $395; need-based scholarships are available
Dates: July 27–31
Application Deadline: May 22
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9-12
The Rutgers PHocus summer program is a one-week immersive experience where you will explore the fundamentals of epidemiology and population health. You will learn topics like urban and global health, nutrition, and disease prevention through an interdisciplinary lens. During the program, you will participate in mock outbreak simulations, engage in hands-on community health activities, go on a field trip, and have direct conversations with real public health practitioners. The program focuses on applying academic concepts to personally relevant, real-world events like recent global pandemics. By the end, you will build essential skills in science and health literacy, epidemiological analysis, and career planning to prepare for your future.
7. Loma Linda University: ABC High School Summer Research Program
Location: Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California
Cost: None
Dates: June 15 – July 30
Application Deadline: March 1
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors or seniors residing in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, minimum 3.0 GPA, completed at least two science courses
The Apprenticeship Bridge to College (ABC) program at Loma Linda University is an eight-week summer internship where you will engage in hands-on health disparities research. You will explore biomedical topics like diabetes, stroke, cancer, and HIV/AIDS, focusing on how they disproportionately impact medically underserved populations. Throughout the summer, you will conduct supervised laboratory experiments, attend health seminars, and formally present your findings at an annual research symposium. A unique feature of this program is its targeted commitment to training local Inland Empire students to address specific health inequities in their own communities. This comprehensive, mentored experience gives you a foundation for a successful and community-focused STEM career.
8. Johns Hopkins University: Pre-College Summer Programs
Location: Baltimore, Maryland (On-Campus) and Virtual (Online) options
Cost: On-Campus: $6,140; Commuter: $4,660; Online: $1,950; limited need-based financial assistance is available
Dates: Three 2-week sessions running between late June and end of July; vary as per format
Application Deadline: March 10
Eligibility: High school students who have completed at least 9th grade with a minimum 3.0 GPA
The Johns Hopkins Pre-College Summer Program is an intensive academic experience where you explore undergraduate-level coursework in public health, medicine, and the sciences. You will study topics like social determinants of health, epidemiology, human anatomy, and health equity. During the program, you will attend morning lectures, conduct practical laboratory workshops, analyze population-based health data, and engage in college readiness seminars. The program gives you the opportunity to earn official Johns Hopkins University college credit while experiencing authentic university life. Ultimately, you will develop rigorous analytical reasoning, advanced laboratory techniques, and a foundational understanding of epidemiological research methods.
9. David J. Sencer CDC Museum Disease Detective Camp
Location: CDC Museum, Atlanta, GA
Cost: None
Dates: June 23 – 27; July 21 – 25
Application Deadline:
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors at least 16 years old by the camp start date
Disease Detective Camp approaches public health through outbreak simulations and case investigations. You analyze symptom timelines, exposure histories, and surveillance data to formulate evidence-based hypotheses. Communication exercises, including mock press briefings, emphasize clarity and responsibility when conveying uncertain or evolving findings. You’ll take part in discussions addressing the role of law, ethics, and policy in shaping public health responses. Interaction with CDC professionals provides further insight into multidisciplinary collaboration across epidemiology, laboratory science, and health communication. You’ll also work on analytical exercises that reinforce the importance of data interpretation and methodical reasoning.
10. Drexel University Public Health Summer Institute
Location: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $450; financial aid is available
Dates: Session I: July 6–10 | Session II: July 20–24
Application Deadline: Rolling admissions until June 19
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
Drexel’s institute examines public health through the lens of urban systems, policy, and community engagement. It includes expert-led sessions addressing topics such as health administration, environmental determinants, and structural inequities in care delivery. Collaborative projects involve modeling disease transmission scenarios and constructing intervention strategies grounded in established methodologies. You also participate in site visits that illustrate how municipal institutions and public agencies implement public health initiatives, along with discussions that require justification of policy choices with data and feasibility considerations.
11. Columbia Environmental heAlth sciences Research for Teachers and High school students (EARTH)
Location: Remote with in-person symposium (for students from three Native communities in the Northern Plains)
Stipend: Paid; compensation for up to 32 hours per week for 10 weeks
Dates: 10 weeks in the Summer
Application Deadline: Mid-to-late April
Eligibility: High school students and teachers from selected Native communities
In the EARTH program, you conduct environmental health research that directly relates to your own community. Working in a locally based team, you examine issues such as drinking water quality, air pollution, or mining-related exposures and explore how these factors affect population health. You collaborate with researchers while still keeping the project grounded in regional priorities, which means your findings are not abstract–they connect to real environmental conditions. Throughout the summer, you attend virtual seminars that strengthen your understanding of environmental epidemiology, exposure science, and research ethics. The program concludes with a symposium where you present your findings and discuss their broader implications.
12. Barnard Health and Society Institute
Location: Barnard College, New York, NY
Cost: Residential: $10,771 | Commuter: $8,160; financial aid is available
Dates: July 20 – August 7
Application Deadline: Rolling basis
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
At Barnard’s Health and Society Institute, you examine health not just as biology, but as something shaped by power, culture, and policy. You analyze how diseases become defined, how medical knowledge is produced, and how surveillance systems influence treatment and access. Through seminar-style discussions, you engage with readings from historians, anthropologists, physicians, and social theorists, building arguments grounded in evidence. You also learn qualitative research methods, including ethical interviewing and analysis of lived experiences. Case studies push you to evaluate why medical advances are distributed unevenly and how structural inequalities persist over time, with written assignments and presentations requiring you to articulate complex ideas clearly and defend your reasoning.
13. Brown Pre-College: Public Health Courses
Location: Brown University, Providence, RI or online
Cost: Varies by course and format; more details here; financial aid is available
Dates: Several courses between June and July; dates vary by course
Application Deadline: May 8
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18 by June 14 (Some courses have additional prerequisites)
At Brown, participants engage directly with complex global and domestic health challenges through structured academic study. Depending on the course, you might evaluate health justice in the Global South, examine the foundations of modern health disparities, or analyze the cultural dimensions of illness. You read scholarly texts, assess interventions, and debate ethical considerations surrounding public health policy. Independent or collaborative projects require you to critique real-world programs using evidence and reasoning. Guest speakers introduce perspectives from researchers and practitioners working in global and community health contexts.
14. Yale Young Scholars Summer Program in Biostatistics and Clinical Research
Location: New Haven, CT
Cost: $3,000
Dates: July 16–31
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors (preference given to seniors); must have strong math skills
At Yale’s Young Scholars program, you explore how statistical methods drive medical and public health research. You work with real health science datasets, learning to calculate disease rates, test hypotheses, and interpret regression models using R programming. You’ll learn to apply statistical reasoning to practical research questions and evaluate the strength of your findings. Team-based projects require you to justify methodological choices and revise analyses based on peer and instructor feedback. You also learn how to critically read clinical studies, identifying confounding variables and weaknesses in study design. Throughout the program, you are expected to document your analytical process clearly and explain your reasoning step by step.
15. Rutgers University Toxicology, Health & Environmental Disease (THED) High School Program
Location: Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ
Cost: $975; need-based financial aid available
Dates: Session 1: July 20–24 | Session 2: July 27–31
Application Deadline: March 2
Eligibility: Rising 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students; completion of at least one high school biology course is recommended
In the THED program, you investigate how environmental exposures influence human health at both the molecular and population levels. Through laboratory activities and case-based analysis, you explore toxicology concepts such as drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics, and environmental risk assessment. You learn how experimental design shapes conclusions and why ethical standards are central to biomedical and environmental research. Discussions connect laboratory findings to regulatory decisions, occupational safety, and broader public health implications. You also examine how environmental risk is measured and communicated to different audiences. Career sessions offer further context on how toxicology intersects with medicine, pharmacy, and environmental health science.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like epidemiology, environmental health, health policy, and behavioral science, 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 – Rutgers University