Program canceled.
The Pre-Health/Premed Summer Enrichment program has been canceled for this summer. We invite you to explore other summed program options at UC Santa Cruz such as Genomics In Action or Human-Centered AI.
Discover your future in medicine and health
This immersive, 10-day course introduces students to the interconnected world of modern medicine — from the first response in an emergency to the public health systems that safeguard entire populations. Through lectures, guest speakers, and hands-on simulations, students will experience the full spectrum of healthcare roles and gain insight into how care is coordinated across disciplines.
By the end of the course, participants will understand not only how health professionals treat individuals but also how their collective efforts sustain community health.
Program details
Course Code: PREC.605
Prerequisites: None
Instructor: Caison Warner Ph.D.
Method: Commuter (Silicon Valley)
Cost: $2,500
Dates: Canceled
Topics
- Guest lectures in public health, emergency medicine, nursing, clinical laboratory science, surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, and palliative care
- How professionals from EMTs to physicians coordinate patient care from crisis to recovery.
- The continuum of medicine: from outbreak response and diagnostics to ethics, empathy, and community health.
- Outbreak investigation, mock triage, scribe role-play, nursing skill lab (vitals, IVs, medication basics), and diagnostic case simulation.
- Lab work: mock blood draws, PCR demonstration, bacterial susceptibility testing, and data interpretation.
- Trace a patient case through stages of the healthcare system, integrating insights from each role.
Course Instructor
Caison Warner
Ph.D. Candidate, UC Santa Cruz
Caison Warner is a doctoral candidate in Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology at UC Santa Cruz. His research on toxin-antitoxin systems in E. coli contributes to understanding bacterial persistence, antibiotic resistance, and potential medical applications. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Neuroscience and has published work on antibiotic resistance genes, plasmid biology, and Wolbachia-based strategies for controlling vector-borne diseases. Caison has taught and assisted in medically relevant courses, including Functional Anatomy, Cadaver Lab, Molecular Biology, Experimental Biology, and Psychopathology. He mentors students in genomic analysis and bioinformatics, particularly projects involving antibiotic resistance and gene targets related to bacterial toxins. His experience spans molecular techniques, microbiology, bioinformatics, and high-performance computing—skills widely used in modern biomedical research. He has also contributed to public health-related symposiums and outreach while maintaining leadership roles in university programs that support future scientists and healthcare professionals.
Sample schedule
| Day 1 | Public Health: The Foundation of Care |
| Day 2 | Stability and Transport: EMT & Paramedic Roles |
| Day 3 | Intake and the Front Line: MA, Medical Scribes |
| Day 4 | Nursing: Nurse Practitioners + Physicians Assistants |
| Day 5 | The Doctor’s Perspective |
| Day 6 | Phlebotomy and Clinical Laboratory Science Maybe Pharmacy |
| Day 7 | Health Research |
| Day 8 | Surgery and Other Specialities |
| Day 9 | Hospice and Palliative Care |
| Day 10 | Connecting It All: From Patient to Population |
| Final Team Presentations to peers, instructors, and guests: Case findings linking individual patient care to population-level health outcome |