After 17-year-old Vivian Ooi moved to the United States from Taiwan, she wanted to meet other students with similar interests. Ooi saw a flyer for Suburban Hospital's Medical Exploring Program and decided to enroll.

"The Medical Exploring Program has helped me become a lot more social. The program explores many professions even if you don’t want to be a doctor," says Ooi, now a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. "It has helped me find community and learn about leadership. The Medical Exploring Program offers a whole experience."

The Medical Exploring Program is a school-year-long discovery experience for students in grades nine through 12. After school, students attend lectures, learn about career options, tour various medical facilities and participate in hands-on activities like suturing and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Each year is a new lineup of speakers and topics. This year, 157 hybrid and 80 virtual students are enrolled in the program.

Ooi, now a third-year Medical Explorer, says she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a doctor, but she wasn’t sure which area she wanted to focus on. Now that she’s participated in the program for several years, she better understands how different components of health care work together.

"I've learned that there are so many players. It has broadened my view of what medicine is," says Ooi. “It’s not just doctors and nurses; you can be involved in so many ways."

Ooi says she learns a lot during the lectures and enjoys the experiences because she gets hands-on knowledge of what kinds of procedures medical professionals use.

"When you use your motor skills, you remember it more vividly,” she says. “We also work in groups, so it helps you make friends."

Program coordinator Maura Canavan says students also learn bleeding control and how to dissect a cow heart.

"We give them a glimpse of what it's like to be in the medical field," Canavan says. "The hands-on activities and tours show them what happens in the trauma bay or in surgery."

Canavan says Medical Exploring students are often highly motivated and ambitious. She says alums of the program have secured positions in various fields, including clinical research, nursing, general dentistry, pharmacy, general surgery, ophthalmology and pediatrics.

"They’re inquisitive and have a real desire to learn," Canavan says. "Even though they’re coming from long days at school, they are committed to participating in the experiences. The program offers a wide lens. You learn how we address the total health of the patients."

Violeta Napao Pantangco, a clinical supervisor at Suburban Hospital, has worked closely with the Medical Exploring students for at least 10 years. She helps coordinate a lecture on cardiovascular surgery and provides a tour of the cardiovascular operating room.

"I love the excitement of the students. They really want to learn," Pantangco says. "They see that we’re a team. Everyone plays a role, and every role is essential. They learn how it works in the real world, and it helps them discern if that’s really what they want to do."

Suburban Hospital’s medical director of trauma services, Dany Westerband, M.D., trains the students in bleeding control and shares his experience as a trauma surgeon.

"When we first taught Stop the Bleed, I gave them a little bit of the lecture and then showed them the importance of learning bleeding control techniques in an emergency situation," says Westerband, who is also the chief of trauma and emergency surgery and vice chair of the department of surgery. "They practiced on mannequins, and seeing the students’ excitement was fascinating. You can always tell which students are really engaged."

Westerband says he is impressed by how bright, engaged and respectful the Medical Exploring students are.

"They always come to the program eager to learn, participate and ask questions," Westerband says. "People should know that this program gives students a view that they might not get elsewhere. This program results from the outstanding dedication, commitment and contributions of several great people who have worked together to make it a success. It takes a village, and being part of the students’ learning experience is a privilege."

For more information about the Medical Exploring Program, email [email protected].