About

The MIMS Summer Internship Program is a five-week immersive clinical experience for students interested in health careers, offered by Mentoring in Medicine & Science, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California. Founded in 2006, MIMS has served over 4,000 community members and built a network of more than 150 health professional volunteers in the Bay Area, with an explicit mission to increase diversity in the health workforce by investing in underrepresented students.

Over five weeks, participants shadow health professionals across emergency medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, internal medicine, public health, nursing, physician assistant practice, and dentistry, depending on availability. Beyond shadowing, students receive hands-on clinical training in splinting, suturing, phlebotomy, and EKG interpretation, and leave the program with five recognized health certifications: CPR/AED, First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, Stop the Bleed, and Bloodborne Pathogens. Professional development workshops on leadership and career planning run alongside the clinical components. Applications require a resume, transcript, and short answer questions.

The program is open to students who are at least 10th graders, high school graduates, or undergraduate and postgraduate students. The combination of genuine clinical access, certification stackability, and MIMS's equity mission makes this one of the most practically oriented pre-medicine programs available to Bay Area students, particularly those without existing healthcare connections.