Members of WCM-Q’s Office of Student Outreach & Educational Development with high school students who completed the Qatar Medical Explorer Program.
Doha, Qatar: Thirty-three high school students spent a week at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) discovering careers in medicine during the winter session of the Qatar Medical Explorer Program (QMEP).
QMEP, an immersive enrichment program offered by WCM-Q’s Office of Student Outreach and Educational Development, provides a snapshot of life as a student at WCM-Q and detailed information about careers in medicine. The programme is open to grade 10 and 11 students who have demonstrated academic excellence and a particular aptitude for the sciences and mathematics.
During the weeklong program, the high school students took part in a carefully designed series of sessions designed to accurately reproduce the experiences of current WCM-Q students, with classes in biology, chemistry, anatomy, surgery, and research.
There was also a presentation on the life of a practicing physician by a member of the WCM-Q faculty, plus opportunities to meet admissions officers, icebreaker sessions, and a mock admissions interview to help the students prepare for applying to college.
The students also experienced practical classes in WCM-Q’s state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab.
Noha Saleh, director of premedical administration, student outreach and educational development, said, “QMEP is designed to give a very accurate impression to high school students of what life as a WCM-Q student is like and a clear understanding of what a career in science will entail.
"We are very happy to provide this chance for students to explore WCM-Q and we are certain that a great many of this year’s cohort left feeling very inspired about pursuing a career in medicine.”
Dr. Rachid Bendriss, professor of English as a second language, assistant professor of education in medicine, and associate dean for foundation, student outreach and educational development programmes, said: “QMEP allows high school students with an interest in the sciences and good academic performance the chance to glimpse all that a career in medicine has to offer, as well as allowing them to explore WCM-Q’s state-of-the-art facilities and world-class levels of teaching. We hope that many of the inquisitive, intelligent and hardworking students who visited us during this session of QMEP will choose to join WCM-Q and go on to serve their communities as physicians, researchers, and educators.”
