Registration for virtual National Pre-Health Conference now open

Last year, Alexia Childress, a student in Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University, teamed up with her childhood best friend, Alehandra Bahena from the University of Pennsylvania, and students from five other universities across the country to put together the first National Pre-Health Conference.

The three-day virtual event was for individuals of any background interested in a career in medicine. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Childress and her team’s mission was to unite and empower pre-health students all over the country.

The conference was a success.

“We had over 1,000 students, faculty and health care professionals from all over the world attend our free and virtual three-day conference,” said Childress, a senior majoring in medical microbiology.

This year, she and her team are bringing back the conference with a new theme: unity in health care.

The 2021 National Pre-Health Conference will run 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. PST, Wednesday, Aug. 4 to Friday, Aug. 6. It will feature health care professionals from all over the country who will share their experiences working together to solve medical cases and transform lives. The conference also will have special events featuring resume building, wellness, an interactive research expo and even a game session.

The research expo will be hosted on day two of the conference. During this session, selected students from all over the country will give digital presentations of their research projects. At the end of day three, Childress and her team will award certificates of achievement to three outstanding presenters for best presentation, audience’s favorite and most innovative.

The team organizing this conference consists of 18 students from across the country divided into five committees. Childress and Bahena, who are co-presidents of the National Pre-Health Conference, oversee all the committees. Together, they plan to make this year’s conference bigger and better than last year’s.

The second National Pre-Health Conference, which is free and completely virtual, promises 32 hours of content, 31 states represented, 10 countries reached, 28 guest speakers and 13 research presentations, according to its website.

Learn more about the conference or register. Apply to participate in the research expo.