The academy is for those who wish to study or pursue a career in medicine, as it prepares students for higher education in the medical field.

Participants are involved in field trips, hospital duties, and view medical procedures as they are performed.

Examples of some of the subjects taught during the class include plate tectonics, waves and tides, ocean currents, sand, algae, plankton, marine mammals, echinoderms, and fish.

In this field study, students, parents, teachers, and past alumni of the class travel down to Baja, California for a week, usually in May.

The purpose of this field study is to apply what the students have learned that year in the class and see it in its natural environment, outside of a conventional laboratory setting.

The Baja field study is unique only to that of Dana Hills, and essentially offered nowhere else in the United States.