Andrea Lopez knows that she could easily be doomed by her demographic: She is 17, Latina and the mother of a baby boy. But UCSF's Science Education & Health Partnership's internship program has helped her prove otherwise.

Is it possible for a health care system to redesign its services to better educate patients to deal with their immediate health issues and also become more savvy consumers of medicine in the long run?

When Rochelle Dicker, MD, was a UCSF intern, she cared for a 16-year-old boy who had been shot as a result of gang violence. He was eventually discharged, but returned to the emergency room a few weeks later after he was shot again. Today, Dicker directs a program that has proven to save lives.