I had no doubt in my mind that medicine was an achievable career path for me, even when many would comment on how long it would take and how hard it would be. I realized later—as a first-year medical student—how powerful those early experiences were in shaping my conviction to pursue a career in medicine.

In 1998, I was a chief resident in Internal Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and I decided to recreate my childhood experiences and wrote the first Little Medical School program. That was the "aha!" moment.

Dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around their neck, the students were engaged, attentive and having so much fun.

In 2011, we started Little Medical School and today we have programs with topics including pharmacy, nursing, veterinary, dental, sports medicine, wilderness medicine, pediatric medicine and more. Our goal is to inspire young minds by sharing our passion for learning, healthy living and careers in medicine. We are dedicated and believe in our mission of inspiring and shaping tomorrow's health care professionals today through our numerous afterschool programs, summer camps and special programming.

Our most important function is to inspire everyone with whom we engage. With a home base in St. Louis, Missouri, Little Medical School has grown to be able to provide our programming to over 45 franchises worldwide. My greatest hope is that future medical, nursing, veterinary and pharmacy school classes will be filled with Little Medical School graduates! For more information, visit Little Medical School.

Written by Dr. Mary V. Mason, M.D., Little Medical School Founder.
Main photo courtesy of Little Medical School.