Ecosystem for Health Career Exploration
Indigenous HCC (IHCC) is a partnership program between Indigenous high school students and the Indigenous healthcare professional community. Indigenous medical students and other allied health professional students serve as mentors to share their stories and support high school students to learn about relevant health topics and consider health careers. Indigenous healthcare professionals meet with high school students to share their career paths and stories. Indigenous college students share college preparatory advice.
IHCC conducts 2 sessions annually (one Fall and one Spring). Each session consists of 11 online sessions and includes several career panels with Indigenous health professionals, a college prepartory session, mentorship time with Indigenous medical students, lessons on health topics relevant to health in Indigenous communities, and exploration of health topics selected by the high school students. High school participants receive care packages to facilitate hands-on learning and community building.
Indigenous HCC was initiated in 2024 as a partnership between the Indigenous HCC leadership team, Epic Charter Schools in Oklahoma, and local Oklahoma public schools. Epic Charter Schools serves thousands of Native American high school students from 38 tribes in Oklahoma. Indigenous HCC is also supported by the the leadership of the Association of American Indian Physicians and the Association of Native American Medical Students.
The faculty sponsors for Indigenous HCC are Dr. Jonathan Baines, Medical Director Native American Pathway Programs; Member, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center; Department of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic; and Dr. Kent Smith, Associate Dean and Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, OSU Center for Health Sciences.
The Indigenous HCC founding leadership team also includes IHCC Program Director Nick Campbell; IHCC National Medical Student Mentorship Directors Chris Lopez, Kelly Tellez, and Madison Palmer; and IHCC Program Coordinator, Divya Thomas.
Above: Dr. Smith meets with an IHCC high school student participant, Jadon H., to discuss career paths and enjoy some anatomy. Dr. Smith is holding the skull of a Dire Wolf collected in Oklahoma in 1919 and Jadon is holding the skull of a short faced bear from the tar pits in LA.
Above: Dr. Smith is joined by two IHCC scholars for his NIH YES OK program. (Summer, 2026)
Sign up for our Fall 2026 Session by following instructions here:
