Breakthroughs in cancer Research
Three-Week Summer Medicine Program
This program covers the study, treatment, and research of cancer, including medical radiation and surgical oncology. Students will study the tell-tale signs of cancer, tackle the complex process of diagnosing, including the staging process, and provide a prognosis to a mock patient. From here, students will study treatments including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. They’ll examine the effects, both positive and negative, of radical procedures, and they’ll perform mock surgeries to get a hands-on feel for removing cancer from a patient’s body. Additionally, students will study the anatomy of cancer itself, including the way it grows and the environments in which it thrives.
July 13th – July 31st, 2026
The Newman School | Boston, MA
About: Awards – Research Programs – Sample Week
Field Trips
In past years, students have visited the following locations:
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT: Students visits the facilities, meet researchers who work every day to solve the complex problems of cancer, and learn interactively about the science and technology of cancer research at MIT.
The Museum of Science: One of the world’s largest science centers and New England’s most highly attended cultural institution, the Museum of Science is ideally positioned to lead the nationwide effort to promote engineering education awareness, bringing science, technology, and mathematics alive through its exhibits, programs, and more.
Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds Exhibition: Body Worlds takes visitors on an unforgettable journey into the human body. The unique exhibition provides fascinating insights into the body’s complex structure and explains how functional systems and organs interact.
NOTE: We cannot guarantee any given field trip will run as in past years or at all.
Past Instructor: Dr. Lee Lawton
Dr. Lee Lawton earned her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan Medical School. Before this, she was a Research Assistant at Cornell University Medical Center for six years. Dr. Lawton completed postdoctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital and The Whitehead Institute, an entity of MIT, after she completed her PhD. Following these accomplishments, Dr. Lawton moved to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where she was a Scientific Manager and Strategic Planner for the DFCI Lymphoma Program.
Student Comments
‘Dr. Lee was very engaging, knowledgeable, and hands-on. I felt like the things we did in class sparked my interest in lab work and really helped me learn about cancer and cells.’
‘Dr. Lawton was very hands-on and we learned a lot and applied that to labs.’
‘Dr. Lee was a great teacher, she’s got great humor.’
‘I liked how there was a set curriculum and straightforward lesson. Interesting and informative labs. Field trips were cool and we learned a lot about jobs of actual cancer researchers.’
Note: This page represents our best expectations for the program. Activities and instructors are subject to change. In such cases, similar activities and a comparably qualified instructor will be sought.
Our Programs are Featured on the National Association for Gifted Children Website
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