Doctors in the house at LECOM in Lakewood Ranch

LECOM's Medical Science Academy, which finishes its two-week run at the Lakewood Ranch campus June 21, gives high school students a taste of what it's like to work in the medical industry.

For some of those students, though, it's not their first taste.

Those students want to follow in the footsteps of their moms or dads.

Consider Victoria Laman, who will be a junior at River Ridge High School in her home of New Port Richey, a 90-minute ride from Lakewood Ranch. Her mother is Dr. Jennifer Laman, a family physician who graduated from LECOM in 2009.

For Victoria Laman, the Medical Science Academy almost has been like a test run as she hopes to attend LECOM after she graduates from high school, and eventually has a family practice like her mom.

"It's a lot of fun to be around people who want to be in the same profession you do," she said of the Medical Science Academy.

While her daughter has been staying in the Lakewood Ranch area while attended the academy, Jennifer Laman visited on the weekend.

"She just loves it," Jennifer Laman said. "She said, 'I am a whole new person.'"

Jennifer Laman said she signed up her daughter before she even knew much about what the program would be like.

"I know how great the education is there," she said of LECOM. "Their learning is all problem-based ... you just don't see that. They take a hypothetical patient, a 50-year-old man with a shortness of breath, and then the students have to figure out what to do next. It's all up to the students."

It was the same for the high school students at the Medical Science Academy.

"I know she could be relaxing in the sun," Jennifer Laman said of her daughter. "But this is a good thing for them. If these students want to (be in the medical profession), it will be hard work their whole life."

The first week of the academy focused on respiratory functions and the 40 students rotated through stations in groups of eight. The second week includes Army representatives doing a suture clinic and a trip to MTC to learn about its dental, nursing and pharmacy programs.

Those students participating had been identified as having an interest in the medical sciences. Two members of the 40 have graduated and are headed to the University of Florida next semester. The rest return to high school.

Teaching the students over the two weeks are three second-year LECOM students who volunteered their time.

Neel Gupta, who will be a junior at Pine View School is Osprey, said he didn't mind giving up two weeks of his summer to participate in an educational program. He wants to be a pharmacist like his mother, Priyanka Gupta.

His desire to go into a medical field has been strengthened by the Medical Science Academy program. Gupta said he liked the problem-based classes where the students had to identify medical issues by using textbooks before searching for solutions.

Nicolas Brunetti, who will be a junior at the Sarasota Military Academy next semester, said he loved the problem-based learning format as well. "It was fun just learning how to find the problem," he said.

Brunetti's mom, Patricia Brunetti, is a dentist. He wants to go into the medical field, but perhaps as a cardiologist.

Victoria Laman, Neel Gupta and Nicolas Brunetti all said they didn't mind giving up the two weeks of their summer. Brunetti already has been to Alaska since school ended in May while Gupta has taken a trip to China. Laman is headed to England in July to spend two weeks job shadowing her aunt, Heike Laman, who does cancer research at the University of Cambridge.

Gupta won't be solving any more medical problems this summer after the Medical Science Academy ends.

"I'm just going to relax," he said.