In the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic halted hospital programs and shuttered classrooms, the traditional path to a healthcare career collapsed. Students who once relied on in-person shadowing, volunteering, and mentorship suddenly had nowhere to go — and no way to fulfill a core requirement for their professional growth.
From that crisis, a new model of learning emerged: Pre-Health Shadowing (PHS) — a nonprofit founded by students to give other students equitable access to healthcare education.
What started as a single online experiment has evolved into a global learning community. In five years, PHS has served over 70,000 students, mobilized 5,000 volunteers, and reached learners across more than 5,500 U.S. cities. Today, it stands as a model of scalable, student-driven innovation in education — and proof that leadership and access can be built from the ground up.
Reimagining Access: The Problem PHS Set Out to Solve
Before the pandemic, shadowing opportunities were localized and inequitable. Students in rural regions or underfunded schools had limited access to healthcare professionals. Shadowing was often gained through personal networks — a process that privileged those with family or institutional connections.
When the pandemic forced in-person restrictions, even those limited opportunities disappeared. Yet within that disruption, the founders of PHS saw an opportunity. If healthcare exposure could move online, then perhaps it could also become accessible to everyone.
From day one, PHS has been guided by four core principles: Access. Equity. Education. Empowerment.
The organization’s mission has never been simply to replicate in-person shadowing but to reimagine it — using technology and collaboration to create a more inclusive model for students from all backgrounds.
A Student-Led Structure Built on Trust
PHS is not a traditional nonprofit run by executives or faculty. It is fully student-led and volunteer-powered. That distinction is foundational to its identity and success.
Every function of the organization — from live sessions and student success to marketing, outreach, IT, and research — is managed by teams of student volunteers. These teams are nested within broader departments, each with its own lead or co-leads.
For example, the High School Training Program (HTP) operates as a dedicated team within the Student Success Department, focusing on empowering high school students to bring healthcare learning directly into their schools.
This structure — collaborative, decentralized, and growth-oriented — gives students the opportunity to lead real projects with measurable impact. By managing outreach, supervising volunteers, coordinating sessions, or overseeing design and communications, PHS team members develop the same organizational and leadership skills that healthcare education so often lacks.
“We’ve seen students join PHS as volunteers and later reach out as first-year medical students,” says Nina Bouzamondo-Bernstein, Founder and CEO of Pre-Health Shadowing. “When you trust students with responsibility, they rise to meet it — and they bring others with them.”
Scaling Access Through Virtual Innovation
PHS’s platform is simple yet transformative. Students can access hundreds of live and asynchronous shadowing sessions through its website, each featuring healthcare professionals from across specialties and backgrounds. After each session, students complete a short post-assessment to earn verified certificates documenting their educational shadowing hours.
The model removes barriers of geography and cost. A student in a small rural town has the same opportunity as one in a major city. Participation is free and fully remote — no travel, tuition, or institutional affiliation required.
This model has proven resilient and scalable, offering a blueprint for how education can evolve beyond traditional constraints. It’s not a replacement for clinical experience but a pathway to exposure and preparation, giving students confidence and context before entering the field.
The High School Training Program (HTP): Building the Pipeline Early
As PHS matured, it recognized the need to reach students even earlier. The High School Training Program (HTP) was launched to expand access to pre-health education at the secondary level.
Through HTP, high school students can establish official PHS Clubs at their schools, complete with mentorship, resources, and programming support. Each club receives:
- A step-by-step startup guide
- Templates for recruiting peers and planning events
- Marketing and outreach materials
- Connection to healthcare professionals for virtual sessions
The initiative democratizes access to early healthcare exploration — particularly in schools without pre-health resources or advising. These clubs, led entirely by students, foster teamwork, community engagement, and a sense of ownership that prepares members not just for college, but for leadership in life.
Within PHS, the HTP team collaborates closely with the broader Student Success Department, ensuring alignment between high school initiatives, live sessions, and student engagement efforts.
Diversity in Speakers, Stories, and Experiences
Diversity has been a defining strength of PHS since its inception. The organization has hosted professionals representing nearly every corner of healthcare — physicians, nurses, physician assistants, dentists, veterinarians, researchers, and public health experts.
Equally important, the speakers themselves come from varied backgrounds — rural practitioners, first-generation college graduates, immigrants, and leaders from underrepresented communities. This intentional inclusion allows students to see healthcare as a diverse ecosystem rather than a narrow profession.
“Representation matters,” says one team lead. “When students hear from a professional who shares their story or background, it changes how they view what’s possible.”
Through this approach, PHS has expanded not just access, but belonging — fostering a more inclusive vision of who can enter medicine and how they can contribute.
Caring for the Whole Student: Mental Health and Sustainability
Healthcare education is demanding, and PHS understands that supporting students means addressing well-being, not just academics.
Through a partnership with BetterHelp, PHS offers volunteers and participants discounted access to therapy and counseling. This initiative reflects the organization’s belief that building future healthcare professionals means supporting the human beings behind the ambition.
PHS also actively promotes a culture of balance and mutual care. Weekly check-ins, leadership touchpoints, and mental health resources help sustain the energy of an all-volunteer team spread across continents and time zones.
Collaboration and Institutional Partnerships
Partnerships have been critical to PHS’s success. Collaborations with organizations such as Kaplan, The Princeton Review, and Mappd have provided scholarships, test preparation support, and academic tools for pre-health students.
PHS has also maintained an active presence at AAMC career fairs and national pre-health conferences, where the team has represented the organization, engaged with advisors, and connected with students across the U.S. These partnerships reinforce that virtual shadowing — while not clinical experience — is a legitimate, structured educational opportunity that complements students’ broader preparation.
From Virtual to Real: The Chicago Book Launch
In 2024, PHS achieved a major milestone: its first in-person event — the official book launch of Heroes Behind the Mask in Chicago, Illinois.
The book, authored by longtime PHS contributors Ramsha Essa and Mirza Baig, chronicles the experiences of healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflects on resilience, ethics, and the human dimension of care — themes that mirror PHS’s educational mission.
The launch event marked more than a literary milestone; it was a moment of community actualization. For the first time, PHS’s digital network came together in real life. A local Chicago-based volunteer team organized the public relations, venue logistics, and on-site engagement. Students who had collaborated virtually for years finally met in person, working side by side to host speakers, engage attendees, and share PHS’s story with the public.
The success of the launch underscored PHS’s growing organizational maturity — demonstrating that a virtual community, when built on trust and shared purpose, can mobilize powerfully offline.
Impact Beyond Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Students served | 70,000+ |
| Cities reached (U.S.) | 5,500+ |
| Volunteers involved | 5,000+ |
| Asynchronous hours available | 400+ |
| Healthcare specialties represented | 130+ |
But the true measure of impact lies in transformation — in students who discovered new career paths, volunteers who became leaders, and alumni who now study in medical, nursing, and dental schools across the country.
PHS has become an incubator for talent, a community for connection, and a blueprint for what happens when students are trusted to lead meaningful change.
Advisory Board: Guiding Excellence and Integrity
Pre-Health Shadowing’s Advisory Board brings together leaders in medical education, veterinary medicine, diversity advocacy, and business innovation. Each advisor plays a critical role in ensuring that PHS’s student-driven mission remains evidence-based, equitable, and sustainable.
Dr. Sunny Nakae, MSW, PhD
Dr. Sunny Nakae serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Equity, Inclusion, Diversity & Partnership at the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM). With leadership experience at UC Riverside, Loyola Stritch, and Northwestern Feinberg, she has transformed premedical education to be more inclusive and student-centered. Author of Premed Prep: Advice from a Medical School Admissions Dean, Dr. Nakae’s insight ensures that PHS programs align with modern admissions standards and inclusive education practices.
Dr. Elise J. Barney, DO
Dr. Elise Barney is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. She oversees key instructional blocks and curriculum design, helping future physicians learn through evidence-based frameworks. Her guidance helps PHS align its educational experiences with real-world medical education structures.
Dr. Christina V. Tran, DVM
Dr. Christina Tran, Associate Professor of Practice and Clinical Relations Lead Veterinarian at the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, is a first-generation Filipino-American and national leader in veterinary diversity. She has served on the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee and as a founding board member of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. Her experience ensures that PHS extends visibility beyond human medicine to veterinary and allied health fields.
Jason D. Bernstein, MBA
Jason Bernstein earned his MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business in 2011 and brings over a decade of leadership experience at IBM, Salesforce, and Capital One. As PHS’s business and technical advisor, he helps guide its financial sustainability, platform development, and organizational growth strategy. His background in nonprofit board service grounds PHS’s innovation in fiscal responsibility and strategic execution.
Together, these advisors lend PHS credibility, insight, and mentorship — ensuring that its student-led framework continues to evolve with academic rigor, technological innovation, and institutional trust.
A Blueprint for the Future of Education
Pre-Health Shadowing’s story is about more than shadowing. It’s about the reengineering of access, leadership, and purpose in education.
By combining student-led teams, virtual innovation, mental health awareness, and equity-driven design, PHS has created a sustainable model that is replicable across disciplines. It challenges the assumption that education reform must begin from the top. Instead, it shows that the future of access may very well start from the ground up — with students.
As PHS enters its sixth year, its goals remain bold yet focused:
- Expand the High School Training Program into more school districts.
- Deepen mentorship and professional partnerships.
- Sustain volunteer wellness and leadership growth.
- Continue amplifying diverse healthcare voices — online and in person.
Five years in, Pre-Health Shadowing stands not only as an educational platform but as a living example of what’s possible when empathy, innovation, and community intersect.
From laptops to lecture halls, from local clubs to a Chicago book launch — PHS has shown that access, when powered by purpose, can change everything.