Health Careers Opportunity Program
Conferences
One of the objectives of HCOP is to assist students in the process of applying to health professional programs. One way of providing this assistance is by attending pre-health conferences. HCOP provides transportation services to some of these events. We usually ask that students register for the conference, followed by a visit to the HCOP office where the student will sign-up to attend the event and leaving a refundable deposit (deposit is refunded at the time of boarding transportation). A couple of favorites are listed below (UC Davis PreHealth Conference, California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education, SACNAS, and SUMMA).
UC Davis Pre-Health Conference
Saturday, October 14th, 2023
The UC Davis Pre-Health Conference provides community college, university, and post-bac students, as well as pre-health advisors with the information and skills necessary to succeed in the health-professions school admission process. It provides a unique opportunity for direct contact with deans of admission, admission officers, financial aid officers, faculty, and staff from a wide variety of health professional programs and other organizations.
Attendees have the opportunity to explore a variety of health professions, including allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric, naturopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, optometry, physical and occupational therapy, physicians assistant, and more.
Visit UC Davis Pre-Health Conference page
California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education
October 14th, 2023
The California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education had its origin in a series of meetings in 1990 among graduate deans and their staff from the University of California and California State University systems. The meetings focused on ways to enhance the recruitment of minority students into doctoral programs.
The Forum was developed to inform students from groups that were significantly underrepresented in American graduate education about the career opportunities and academic challenges associated with advanced study in a wide range of disciplines. It was designed to tap into the growing pool of highly qualified undergraduate and master's-level students already attending California colleges and universities. Previously, there had not been an adequate mechanism to identify these students and encourage them to think in terms of graduate study leading to the Ph.D. degree. To remedy this situation, the Forum brought together some of the most promising underrepresented students from Southern California to acquaint them with all aspects of advanced study in the natural sciences and engineering, humanities and letters, social sciences, education, and health-related fields.
Get more information about the forum
SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference
October 26th - 28th, 2023
The SACNAS National Diversity in STEM Conference is the largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM event in the country specifically focused on diversity. NDiSTEM seeks to equp, empower, and energize participating students for their academic and professional paths in STEM. Over the course of the conference, college-level through professional attendees are immersed in cutting-edge STEM research, professional development sessions, motivational speakers, and the Graduate School & Career Expo Hall. NDiSTEM is a broadly inclusive space where participants are encouraged and empowered to bring your whole self to STEM.
Get more information about NDiStem
SUMMA Conference
Saturday, February 5, 2024
The SUMMA Pre-Heath Conference is one of the oldest on the west coast, typically drawing 500 students from the Bay Area and California.
The goal of the SUMMA Conference is to increase the diversity of health professions with a focus on underrepresented minority students. It is designed to increase the number of minorities accepted into medical schools nationwide. The SUMMA Conference achieves these goals by offering a variety of workshops, presentations by key faculty and staff, mock interviews, networking with exhibitors representing medical and health profession schools from across the nation, and opportunities to meet Stanford medical students from similar backgrounds and cultures. The SUMMA Conference is truly a unique experience in which conference attendees receive an in-depth experience of what it takes to enter and succeed in medicine. The conference is ideal for premed students considering medicine as a professional career.
Get more information about SUMMA