How We Spent Our Summer: The George and Judy Wohlreich Junior Fellows Program

It has been a very exciting summer for the youth programs. On June 25, 2021, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia the creation of the program. Formerly the Karabots Junior Fellows and the College Junior Fellows program, the George and Judy Wohlreich Junior Fellows is a three-year summer and after-school program for Philadelphia high school students from historically excluded communities who are interested in careers in healthcare and medicine.

In August, we were happy to welcome the latest cohort of the program. A small group of students from all across the city came together to participate in an intensive two-week summer program. This year's theme was "Lessons of 2020," taking a closer look at the tumultuous year and a half we have all been experiencing through the lens of health. Some of the topics addressed included how diseases behave; lessons learned, and not learned, from past pandemics such as the 1918 influenza and 1980s AIDS pandemics; the social determinants of health, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on historically marginalized or excluded communities, such as incarcerated people and communities of color; and what it means to be a healthcare professional during a global pandemic.

A key element of the program is putting students in contact with healthcare professionals in the field. This summer, we were fortunate to have an exciting group of guest speakers who shared their professional expertise and life experiences with our students. These experts represented such fields as pathology, microbiology, immunology, public health, pediatrics, physical therapy, hospice and palliative care, internal medicine, and emergency medicine.

Our students also became experts in one aspect of the Mütter Museum. Working in small groups, they selected a specimen that is on display on , our online exhibit, and prepared a mini tour on that specimen for guests from the , a program of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania that introduces talented undergraduate students from underrepresented minority groups to research in health services, population health, and clinical epidemiology at Penn. Topics the students covered included , , , and .

We are proud of our new students' accomplishments and excited to offer them new educational opportunities during the school year.

If you are a Philadelphia high school student who will be starting their sophomore year during this coming school year, there are still a few spots available in our cohort. For more information on eligibility check out our or our , or contact , PhD, Assistant Director of the Center for Education. .