What is the Emory Pipeline Collaborative?

Founded in 2007 by two Emory School of Medicine graduates, Samuel Funt 10M and Zwade Marshall 05C 11B 11M 12MR, the Emory Pipeline Collaborative is a student-run organization that incorporates a multitiered mentoring philosophy into health science education. In the Pipeline Collaborative, graduate students from Laney Graduate School, Rollins School of Public Health, and Emory School of Medicine collaborate with undergraduates from Emory College to teach and mentor students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds attending public high schools in Atlanta. For both undergraduates and high school students, this program begins during their sophomore year and continues until their respective graduations. Each undergraduate is paired with a high school student for the entire duration of the program in order to foster meaningful mentoring relationships across the three years of the program and beyond.

Our sophomore year curriculum is dedicated to sexual health and infectious diseases; the junior year curriculum is related to neurology and mental health; and senior year ends with a focus on public health and community engagement. At the end of each year, the students prepare scientific presentations that they present in front of all members of the program as well as their teachers, family members, and Emory faculty. Though the Emory Pipeline Collaborative began with only 16 medical students, 16 undergraduates, and 16 high school students from South Atlanta High School, there are now more than 150 students, mentors, and faculty members involved in our program, and we have more than 250 alumni. In our 2013 and 2014 cohorts, we had a 100 percent graduation rate among the high school students and 81 percent went on to attend four-year colleges and universities. Many of our undergraduates have gone on to attend medical school or graduate school, and some of the undergraduates who matriculated to Emory School of Medicine or other Emory graduate programs have continued up the “pipeline” and now teach in our program.

How can you help?

We are grateful to have received a grant from the Health Careers Opportunity Program, covering costs for Pipeline high school juniors and seniors, but additional funding is required to support the sophomore students in our program. Your support will help provide books and laptops for our college-bound seniors, funding for our closing ceremony (our culminating event of the year), after-school food for high school student participants, and transportation for each session. Your gift to the Emory Pipeline Collaborative will help preserve and expand a nine-year tradition rooted in empowerment, opportunity, and growth for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.

Your generosity will support underserved youth in the Metro Atlanta area and create engaging activities so they can carve out paths in the health sciences field, learn more about themselves, and interact with other high school and college students to develop long-lasting relationships. We believe that success is rooted in opportunity and empowerment. As a student-run organization, we believe in a “lift as you climb” philosophy; we can uplift younger students as we continue to gain new experiences on our own personal paths in the health field.