History

The Stanford Medical Youth Science Program (SMYSP) is the brainchild of Dr. Marilyn Winkleby, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University, and two exceptional Stanford pre-med students, Michael McCullough and Marc Lawrence. Together, the three envisioned a program that would offer academic enrichment and long-term mentoring to low-income and minority high school students. They wanted to find a way to bring these students, many of whom had suffered personal hardship, into the world-renowned setting of Stanford University where they could learn more about science and medicine.

After a hasty and intense planning stage, SMYSP was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the program launched in the summer of 1987. It was a shoestring operation. McCullough and Lawrence arranged labs and lectures; Dr. Winkleby made home visits to urge families to let their children attend the program; Stanford staff members and students were tapped to lend support and to teach. The enormous effort paid off, and seven students enrolled in the free program.

The following year the program extended its recruitment efforts to 18 counties in northern California and ultimately invited 23 students to be a part of SMYSP. Many of the students selected showed great courage in the face of both academic and personal challenges like poverty and war, violence and racial injustice. Students like Irene Linetskaya, who survived the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and is now at Harvard Medical School, and Erik Cabral, a student who turned his back on an inner-city gang to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor, were admitted. Many SMYSP participants have gone on to become the first in their families to attend college.

SMYSP became a residence program in 1988, and Roth House, a rambling home on Stanford’s campus with hardwood floors and airy rooms, houses the program’s students every summer. Stanford undergraduates began to serve as counselors to the students that year, and workshops in SAT preparation, writing college essays and obtaining financial aid for college were provided.

By 1995, it was clear the program was succeeding. More than 200 at-risk students admitted into SMYSP had succeeded in college. A $100,000 grant from the MacDonnell Foundation gave the program its second wind, and the curriculum was enhanced to include five themes: college week, human biology, human development, medicine and society and complementary medicine.

In 1996, SMYSP received the largest individual donation in the program’s history. Leo Hindery Jr., inspired by the life-saving efforts made for him by a young African-American resident at Stanford Hospital, donated enough money to hire an executive director and to power the program for five years.

In 2001, the California Endowment awarded SMYSP with a $409,000 grant to replicate the program at the University of California San Diego and to expand the program. This funding fueled The College and Health Options: Ideas Creating Excellence (CHOICE) program, a series of college prep workshops for students living in the Central Valley.

In 2004, SMYSP planted its feet in even more under-resourced northern and central California high schools. The Minority K-12 Initiative for Teachers and Students (MKITS) program initiated school-based science programs for students and training programs for science teachers and counselors. MKITS was made possible by a generous grant from the National Institutes of Health. That same year SMYSP won a competitive national grant in the amount of $487,000 from the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE). The grant will further fund our efforts to enhance the education of low-income and minority high school students in medicine and science.

SMYSP is committed to developing young leaders. To date, 405 alumni have graduated from the Summer Residential Program, and 96% have been admitted to colleges and universities. Over 40% of the 4-year college graudates are becoming or have become health professionals. The statistics speak for themselves. SMYSP is changing for the better the lives of under-resourced students, and by extension, the healthcare community at large.

How you can help
Welcome message from Executive Director Judith Ned