A comprehensive transplant summer student immersion program to increase early exposure

Objective To describe the structure and observed educational and scholarly outcomes of the Transplant Summer Student Immersion Program (TSSIP), a structured 4–8-week summer initiative that provides research, mentorship, and clinical exposure in transplantation. Design Retrospective descriptive cohort study of students who participated in TSSIP from 2009 to 2023. Setting Comprehensive transplant center at a tertiary academic medical center in the United States. Participants A total of 218 students who completed the program and had available follow-up data, including 6.4% high school (HS; n = 14), 33.0% undergraduate (UG; n = 72), 6.0% postgraduate (PG; n = 13), and 54.6% medical students (MS; n = 119), along with 56 transplant mentors. Results Among 218 students, 45.9% (n = 100) were female, 61.9% (n = 135) were visiting students, and 15.1% (n = 33) were from outside the Midwest. Among 56 mentors, 55.3% (n = 31) were female and most held MD or MD/PhD (67.9%; n = 38) degrees. Most research projects were clinical (67%). Students authored 81 presentations (mean 0.50, range 0–10) and 69 peer-reviewed publications with program mentors (mean 0.30, range 0–5) within 2 years of program completion. Overall, 51.8% of students authored ≥ 1 publication independent of program projects (62.8% authored 1–5; 37.2%: >5). Among students, 88.3% of HS students pursued science majors, 36.0% of UG entered medical school, and among MS, 78.8% of those in residency or fellowship trained at academic programs, while 59.1% of those who completed residency or fellowship held faculty positions in academic medicine. Overall, 40% remain in training programs (college, medical school, residency, or fellowship). Students rated lectures highest (4.8/5.0) and evaluated TSSIP as good (4.4/5.0). The program is gratis for students and costs the center ~$6,000/summer (~$250/student). Conclusion TSSIP is a low-cost, scalable model that provides multidisciplinary academic and clinical exposure across educational levels.