Taking root: Talent Garden program welcomes four scholars to CHEST 2026

The CHEST Annual Meeting has proven to be a fertile ground for cultivating young minds curious about a career in medicine. For the second year, four high school students from Minnesota are attending the conference following a competitive selection process they qualified for during an immersive internship in Minneapolis.

Gabriel Zhina Carpio, Milkahlyne “Milk” Muriithi, Nora Ross, and Tenzin Zesel are the 2026 Hennepin Healthcare Talent Garden CHEST Scholars. They will arrive in Phoenix on all-expenses-paid scholarships to further explore their interests in health care.

Their journey began this summer at Hennepin County Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital, where they were part of a cohort of two dozen teenagers taking part in a paid internship designed for historically excluded youth with a serious interest in a career as a physician, dentist, nurse, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant/associate.

“This program is focused on opportunities for young people who might see the highest levels of the medical profession as out of reach,” said Jim Peters, Talent Garden program coordinator and Health Equity Program Development Manager for Hennepin Healthcare. “But they ought to be rubbing elbows with professionals who are supportive and encouraging and hearing their stories. It’s important that they understand not only that they can get there but that we instill in these young people the confidence that they can do it because they have been shown it’s in reach.”

That means seeing people from similar backgrounds with successful medical careers.

“In medicine, there are stigmas, stereotypes, different beliefs, and people might be more afraid to use the medical system because of cultural beliefs,” said Robert DeMarco, MD, FCCP. “We’re trying to encourage people in any area to be involved in medicine so that there’s more access and more people who look like them, speak the same language as them, and who have the same cultural experiences as them.”

Two weeks into the Talent Garden experience at Hennepin Healthcare, the interns were given the opportunity to apply for the chance to attend the CHEST Annual Meeting by writing an essay.

Dr. DeMarco, Chair of the CHEST Board of Advisors, which is responsible for developing and overseeing CHEST’s philanthropic giving strategy, was one of the essay reviewers for this year’s  applicants. He said that support for the program at CHEST has been strong since it was first proposed.

“When this idea was brought to the Board of Advisors, [we] were just blown away by being able to interest people in medicine at a younger age and get kids who wouldn’t normally have the chance to be involved excited in a career in medicine, whether it’s physicians, [emergency medical technicians], or another role,” Dr. DeMarco said.

Growing strong

The inaugural Talent Garden CHEST Scholars class blossomed onsite at CHEST 2025 in Chicago. One of the scholars, Amy Vasquez, a first-generation college student, has since been accepted into the BA/MD program at the University of Minnesota and is on track to become a doctor. It’s an impressive feat that requires special drive, Dr. DeMarco noted.

“This is right out of high school. You’re giving up four years of standard college to do college in three years,” he said. “It’s a huge endeavor.”

Vasquez said that her CHEST Annual Meeting experience enriched her interest in medicine and played a pivotal role in her acceptance into the BA/MD program.

“Before the Talent Garden and CHEST, medicine was a path I was following on my own,” she said. “Through the Talent Garden, I found a community, mentors, health care professionals, and peers who encouraged me to believe that I belonged in medicine. CHEST built on this foundation by giving me the chance to explore medicine beyond the hospital, allowing me to explore the future of medicine, learn from new professional perspectives through educational sessions, connect with mentors, and see the work being done in chest medicine.”

Last year’s group of CHEST Scholars also includes a pre-med student entering the University of Minnesota and two pre-dental students.

Sowing seeds of success

Now in its fifth year, the Hennepin Healthcare Talent Garden Internship experience includes shadowing various health care professionals, basic life support skills training from emergency medical services professionals, and instruction on a wide range of health care topics. Participants must be a junior or senior in high school with plans to attend college, and they must attend a daylong youth summit each year. These summits, hosted by Hennepin Healthcare, are designed to encourage youth who have been disproportionately affected by social inequities to pursue health care careers.

“As a hospital, we have a history with health equity and serving the underserved,” Peters said.

“We have a firm belief as an institution that outcomes for people are better when they feel some sort of cultural, language, racial, or other connection with their provider and care teams.”

This philosophy was the seed for the Talent Garden.

“We want to get kids of color into these jobs. By the time you’re in med school… I don’t want to say it’s too late. But we decided we have to start talking to teens and showing them that these careers are within reach so that they set their course in that direction,” Peters said.

CHEST is also dedicated to cultivating health care professionals who can connect in meaningful ways with the populations they serve.

“Everybody should be able to have access to the same great health care,” Dr. DeMarco said. “It shouldn’t matter what you look like or where you live. The whole point is to make CHEST a place where everybody feels welcome and where we can grow our membership so that all of our patients, regardless of what, where, who, why, or their beliefs, get great medical care.”

Sharing the bounty

As part of their CHEST Annual Meeting experience, the Talent Garden students have been invited to the Donor Reception and will have ample opportunity to engage with meeting attendees throughout the convention center.

“They’ll get to interact with a lot of people who can show them that CHEST is an exciting place and they will be encouraged to follow their medical pursuits—and it doesn’t have to be pulmonary, critical care, or sleep medicine,” Dr. DeMarco said. “We want people to be able to be represented, to make everybody feel comfortable with their medical care, and to make sure they get the same quality across the board.”

The Talent Garden students will also give a joint presentation at 10:45 am on Monday, October 19, in the Grantee Showcase area near Registration. Dr. DeMarco encourages annual meeting attendees to think back to their early careers as they listen to the teen presenters.

“Come up and interact with them and share in the excitement of the careers they’re choosing and make them feel welcome,” Dr. DeMarco said. “Spend that time being a role model and say, ‘This is why I chose this path, this is why I did this.’”

Dr. DeMarco would like to see the CHEST Talent Garden expand in the future.

“There are plenty of places in the United States where this program could take root,” he said. “Expansion isn’t so much about wanting; it’s having the dollars to do it.”

To support the Talent Garden CHEST Scholars program, as well as other CHEST scholarship and grant initiatives, scan the QR code or visit chestnet.org/donate and select “Dedication to education.”