About

The Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Academy, offered through Penn Arts and Sciences as part of its three-week Summer Academies portfolio, immerses rising sophomores through seniors in the science of how pathogens work, how the immune system responds, and how public health systems contain outbreaks. The program runs July 5–25, 2026 on Penn's Philadelphia campus. Tuition is $10,050, covering residential housing, a meal plan, and all laboratory materials; students attending a School District of Philadelphia public or charter high school may be eligible for a full scholarship. Administrative logistics are managed by Summer Discovery, a long-standing Penn partner; Penn Arts and Sciences handles all academic content and admissions. Rolling admissions apply until capacity is reached.

Applicants must have completed a year of high school biology and are strongly encouraged to have chemistry as well; a minimum 3.5 GPA is required. The application includes transcripts, essays, and one letter of recommendation. International students are welcome.

The curriculum moves through cell and molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, genetics, epidemiology, and public health, anchored by case studies on specific pathogens — malaria, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, influenza, and smallpox among them. Daily lectures cover pathogen life cycles, infection mechanisms, and strategies for prevention, testing, and treatment. A distinguishing feature of the program is its expert interview series: past sessions have included conversations with Dr. Paul Offit, the prominent vaccine researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Dr. Drew Weissman, co-discoverer of the mRNA technology underlying COVID-19 vaccines; and Dr. Susan Weiss, a leading coronavirologist at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine. Students analyze these interviews in breakout discussions and apply what they've learned to hands-on activities — including testing diagnostic kits and designing outbreak response protocols — before producing a final public service announcement on pandemic preparedness for a lay audience.

No college credit is awarded, and this is not a research program: students do not conduct original experiments under individual faculty mentorship. What the academy offers instead is something genuinely rare at the high school level — sustained, serious engagement with the science of infectious disease, taught by a faculty member who was doing coronavirus research before COVID-19 existed, and supplemented by access to some of the most significant infectious disease scientists in the country. For a student who wants more than a survey of biology but isn't yet ready for a research internship, this is one of the more intellectually substantive pre-college programs in the field.