Program Overview
The Health Professions Shadowing Program (HPSP) is an intensive, two-week shadowing and professional development experience designed to help increase access, equity, and diversity in healthcare. The program is jointly administered by the UW-Madison Center for Pre-Health Advising (CPHA) and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Office of MD Admissions, and includes a wide variety of opportunities to network with health care providers, explore potential career paths, think critically about health equity, experience clinical settings, and grow as future leaders in healthcare. The program supports and requires significant personal and professional growth and commitment.
There are no costs to students associated with participation in this program! We will work with participants to coordinate transportation, tech, meal, and housing needs. For example, optional on-campus housing will be provided, and (in addition to a number of catered meals), a $200 meal stipend will be provided via participant Wiscards.
After the summer program, HPSP alumni have access to additional advising and resources from CPHA and UW SMPH while continuing their pre-health journeys.
Eligibility
- HPSP focuses on supporting students from groups underserved and underrepresented in healthcare, including BIPOC students, LGBTQIA+ students, students with disabilities, first-generation students, and students from rural or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Due to very limited space and the critical goals of increasing access, equity, and diversity in healthcare, students from the above groups will be prioritized in admissions.
- Applicants must be currently enrolled UW-Madison students in good academic and non-academic standing at time of application and participation (i.e. enrolled in spring 2023, enrolled for fall 2023, minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0, etc).
- Applicants must have completed at least two semesters of coursework on the UW-Madison campus by the program’s start. Incoming first-year students will not be selected. In addition, students may not apply if they will be applying to a professional program in 2023 (medical school, PA school, etc.)
- Participants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or DACA recipients.
- No previous shadowing experience is necessary! However, the most successful applicants in previous years have started to gain some initial health-related experience through volunteering, student organizations, etc., prior to admission.
Students can find additional information about HPSP on our website: https://prehealth.wisc.edu/health-professions-shadowing-program/
Program Details
HPSP 2023 program dates are Sunday, July 30th - Friday, August 11th . With the exception of an informal welcome dinner gathering at the HPSP residence hall on Sunday, July 30, programming runs daily from Monday-Friday. Please plan for between ~7am-6:30pm, as some days will start quite early/some may end as late as 6:30pm. (there is no required programming the weekend of August 5 & 6). The final schedule, including specific times, will be provided in July. Transportation for shadowing and field trips will be provided.
All participants should plan to reside in or near Madison during the program. Housing accommodations in UW-Madison residence halls will be available at no cost if needed.
Application Process
Students are required to submit an application via Qualtrics, which includes a questionnaire, an essay, and a separate recorded interview component via Kaltura.
HPSP 2023 applications are due Sunday, February 12th at 11:59pm. Selected applicants will be invited to a final interview in late February or early March. All applicants will receive communication of decisions by Monday, March 20th.
Questions? Reach out to Dua Ci Khang, Lead for Professional Development Programming, at dkhang@wisc.edu.
This post was authored by Academic Affairs on 01/26/2023.