HealthLink

About Us

HealthLink is a partnership between UCSF professional school students, Bay Area public schools, and community organizations.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to inspire and support high school students from communities that are underrepresented in the health professions through mentorship, workshops, and hands-on activities in the health sciences. We understand that current UCSF students have the unique opportunity and responsibility to advance diversity by mentoring the next generation of health professionals. We envision a future in which healthcare workers come from backgrounds that are as ethnically and economically diverse as the communities they serve. We hope to provide participants with an opportunity to change the face of healthcare.

History

HealthLink grew out of the work of several first-year UCSF medical students in 2002. In response to systemic ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic disparities within the health professions, the students created MedLink. They resolved to create a program in which medical students could meaningfully engage high school students from underrepresented communities in long-lasting, supportive relationships that build an authentic link to the health professions and an opportunity to change the face of medicine. In 2016, MedLink officially changed its name to HealthLink to include students from all five UCSF health professional schools.