SAN ANTONIO – A group of high schoolers graduated from the Voelcker Biomedical Research Academy at UT Health San Antonio.
Twenty students completed the three-year-plus program, and 20 others concluded their first seven-week summer session with a science symposium and graduation.
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The ceremony was held Thursday evening at the Holly Auditorium in the UT Health San Antonio Long Campus.
The program was started in 2009 and created a pipeline for high school students to have a career in biomedical sciences.
Accomplished scientists serve as mentors to highly competitive high school students at UT Health San Antonio, according to a UT Health San Antonio press release.
“It was a perfect combination of an administration that really wanted the program and wanted their faculty to participate, and the money and vision that already had been defined in our imaginary world,” said Irene Chapa, PhD, executive director of recruitment and science outreach at UT Health San Antonio and director of the academy.
The program has been held annually, except for 2020. So far, 309 students have been selected to participate in the program, with 80% of those students choosing to remain in STEM-related fields, according to the press release.
The Voelcker fund donates around $1 million every three years.
Also on Thursday, first-year scholars presented posters that detailed their research.
For more information on the program, click here.