Welcome To STEPuHP!
STEP-uHP is the go-to career training and coaching platform for students seeking socioeconomically and professionally rewarding service-learning and mentoring.​
Our Mission: we recruit, train, and coach students and champion their paths into healthcare and STEM professions.
What We Do
10%
Less than 10% of medical students are low income (family income < 50K)
Compared to the 75% majority of students from the top 2 earning brackets. This socioeconomic gap has persisted from 1986 through 2017 according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
3x
First-generation, low-income and under-represented race/ethnic groups have disproportionately higher attrition from STEM/health careers; 3 times more likely to leave the path.
Overall attrition is highest in college; students from less-privileged backgrounds face financial barriers, academic challenges, and disproportionately low access to mentors.
61%
Service-learning gigs like medical scribing offers students direct experience in healthcare, access to potential mentors and sustain their aspirations; scribes have a 61% higher chance of getting into medical school.
STEPuHP offers longitudinal, service-learning (such as scribing) and integrated coaching. We invite institutional partners to align their scribe service needs with our equity-informed coaching model.
Career Opportunity Gaps Persist Despite Workforce Shortages & Health Disparities
​There is a looming crisis of healthcare worker shortage, exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and increasing demand for quality healthcare across several urban and rural US communities. Still, healthcare systems continue to champion value-driven solutions that allow current professionals to serve marginalized communities inclusively and with joy, but the healthcare workforce does not reflect the diversity of communities served.
Stagnant Progress in Workforce Solutions
We need sustainable workforce solutions that ignite the next generation with transferable skills, role modeling, and economically viable opportunities that sustain their interests in healthcare/STEM careers. For more than 50 years, there has been stagnant progress in efforts to build more diverse and inclusive healthcare professionals from under-resourced communities (first-generation, low-income, and those without mentors or lacking structured advising programs). For example, since 1988, less than 10% of every class of US medical students come from low-income backgrounds, compared to counterparts from the highest US household income quintiles who comprise more than 75% (7 out of 10).
Meet Our Team
George Agyapong, MD, MS | Founder & CEO
A first-generation college-grad and doctor, George took a 7-year detour to serve in the US Army Reserves and held overnight jobs as a security officer to make ends meet. He earned a Master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (MS, Biotechnology) while taking undergraduate premed coursework (evening/summer school). He persisted and customized his path into Harvard Medical School to became a doctor, 12 years after graduating college!
Inspired by mentors and opportunities that nurtured his dreams, George rallied our founding team behind a shared vision - to create viable and rewarding service-learning and coaching opportunities for disadvantaged students. Connect with George for mentoring or funding opportunities.
