Volunteer Opportunities

Pet therapy helps people cope with health problems, reduce their stress and improve their mood and energy levels while providing a sense of companionship. Here at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, we have a Pet Therapy Program that allows a certified therapy dog to visit with patients and their families in the outpatient clinics. Pet therapy teams are limited to a 2 hour maximum visit.

Learn more about the benefits of Pet Therapy from UPMC HealthBeat »

If you are an amateur artist of any kind — a musician, painter, writer, etc. — you can help provide patients with a means for self-expression and diversion. In this program, volunteers play music, create arts and crafts, read poetry, and much more to offer comfort and a creative outlet to patients and families during a difficult time.

Each day, researchers at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center are taking important steps to increase our understanding of cancer and are testing the newest, most advanced treatments to cure it. Volunteers who have an interest in research and medicine have an opportunity to assist researchers with a variety of tasks.

Duties include:

• Tissue and cell culture
• Gene transfections
• Solution preparation
• Chromosome karotyping
• Cell labeling
• Staining and filing slides
• Cleaning glassware
• Glassware autoclaving
• Imaging analyses
• Library research
• Data recording
• Analyses

Application Information

We accept applications for lab volunteers during the following dates:

• Spring
  • Applications accepted November 15 through November 30
• Summer
  • Applications accepted March 15 through March 30
• Fall
  • Applications accepted July 15 through July 30

Please do not submit an application outside of these identified dates.

To be considered for placement in a research lab:

• Complete a UPMC volunteer application form. If you are not an American citizen, please specify whether you have a permanent resident card or indicate the type of visa you hold in the "Citizenship" section of the application.
• Complete and submit the lab placement profile and attach your resume.