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Spotlight · Junior Scientist Program
Your child does real medical research — and earns a publication.
Not a science class and not a resume filler. A physician-researcher mentors your child through one real study, every week, from reading their first paper to writing one of their own.
2 hrsper week — one ~90-min live call plus light homework
6–8 motypical time to a publication
9–12grades it's built for (motivated undergrads welcome)
1 motrial with refundable deposit
The problem
The problem with most high-school "research"
Admissions reviewers can tell real work from a name added to a paper. Most ambitious students never get the real thing, for three reasons.
01
No real mentor
Working researchers rarely have time to teach a teenager, so students get busywork with no guidance.
02
Resume padding
Pay-to-publish journals and a week of shadowing impress parents, but not the people reading applications.
03
No skills that carry
Students never learn to read a paper, design a study or write one — so nothing transfers to college.
Why it works
Research taught the way scientists actually learn it.
One real project
Students join an actual medical study and carry their part for months.
Weekly live mentorship
A physician-researcher critiques the work every week, the way a real lab does.
The full arc, in order
Reading, judging evidence, study design, data, and writing — in sequence.
Present and defend
Students explain their work and field hard questions each week.
AI, used properly
Draft and critique with AI, then check every claim against the evidence.
Every session recorded
A busy school week doesn't mean a lost session.
The curriculum
Eight skills, in the order that builds.
- 01 · Weeks 1–6
Read a paper without fear
- 02 · Weeks 1–6
Tell strong evidence from weak
- 03 · Weeks 6–14
Design a study
- 04 · Weeks 14–22
Handle data & statistics
- 05 · Ongoing
Do research ethically
- 06 · Ongoing
Use AI like a scientist
- 07 · Weeks 22–28
Write for publication
- 08 · Weeks 28+
Present, submit & apply
Live projects
The kind of studies students work on.
Live projects that practicing doctors care about. Students contribute to one or model their own on it.
A simple vaccine-safety screening tool
Designing and testing a short screening questionnaire that parents and health workers can actually understand.
Can a video measure muscle strength?
A phone-camera approach to tracking strength from a sit-to-stand movement.
Designing a fair clinical trial
How to run an experiment that gives an honest answer — and how not to fool yourself.
Case reports to journal standard
Writing up unusual patient cases to published reporting guidelines — often the fastest route to a first publication.
How it compares
Side by side with the alternatives.
Feature
Junior Scientist
Typical programs
Who teaches
A physician-researcher, directly
A coordinator, grad student, or no one
The work
One real study, owned for months
Busywork or a name on someone else's project
Skills
Read, design, analyze, write, present
Few that carry past the program
Result
A path to a peer-reviewed paper and abstracts
A certificate or pay-to-publish listing
Built for
High schoolers, grades 9–12
Mostly medical students
Risk to start
One-month trial, refundable deposit
Paid up front, no guarantee
A year from now
Your child spends the year either way.
Without the program
Another line on the application
- An activity that fills space and teaches little.
- An application that blends in with thousands of others.
- Still no idea how real research works.
- Nothing they can point to as their own.
With the program
Proof of real work
- A real study, carried from question to finished paper.
- A paper and abstracts with their name on them, if earned.
- Skills that carry into college and a medical career.
- An application built on proof, with a physician's letter behind it.
Pricing
One fee for a full year of mentored research.
The fee covers your child's place, training and mentorship. It does not — and cannot — buy a publication or a byline.
High school research fellowship
$4,000 USD · full program year
- A real role on a physician-led study
- Weekly one-on-one and small-group mentorship
- Training in reading, writing, interviewing and presenting
- A transparent, ICMJE-based path to authorship if earned
- A signed Certificate of Contribution on completion
Limited places, offered after a fit conversation. Payment plans available on request.
What the fee buys
A year of structured mentorship, training and a genuine role on a study — tuition, the way any serious research mentorship carries a fee.
What it does not buy
A publication, a conference acceptance, or authorship. Those depend on your child's work meeting ICMJE criteria and passing peer review. Anyone guaranteeing a byline for a fee is selling something that would hurt your child.
Possible separate costs
Conference registration and travel, if your child presents, are set by the organizer and disclosed in advance. They are never a condition of authorship.
Start with a trial
One month, with a deposit that comes back if it isn't the right fit.
Find out where your profile actually stands.
A free guidance call, no obligation — an honest read of your timeline and which programs are worth it for you.