Building the Next Generation of Cedars-Sinai Nurses

At Cedars-Sinai, nursing is more than a profession-it's a commitment to caring for people in their most vulnerable moments.

For Ilse Giron, RN, that commitment is deeply personal.

"When you're here, you really get to know someone and you get to know their story," Giron said. "You get to help them-not just clinically, but emotionally-and be there for them."

Today, as healthcare professionals mark National Nurses Week, Giron is a bedside nurse caring for patients on a medical-surgical unit. But her journey into nursing began years earlier, when she was a teenager growing up in East Hollywood, unsure of what opportunities might be within her reach.

"My parents were first-generation [immigrants]," Giron said. "I just never thought I would have this opportunity. There are so many fields you can go into."

A First Step That Changed Her Life

Giron was just 16 when she joined Cedars-Sinai's Youth Employment and Development (YED) program. The two-year program partners with Fairfax High School to give juniors and seniors hands-on exposure to healthcare careers through mentorship, job shadowing and real-world work experience.

"YED is an amazing program to just get a good feel of what the professional work life is," Giron said. "You're so young, and you're able to work with multiple professionals, see what they do, ask questions-and even shadow them to figure out if that's something you want to pursue."

That early exposure proved transformative.

"YED changed the course of my life," Giron said. "I'm not sure I would have found the passion I have for nursing without it."

Daniela Villegas knows that impact firsthand.

Villegas also joined the YED program at 16 and, more than two decades later, is still at Cedars-Sinai. Only now, she is leading the very program that gave her a start.

As program manager for NextGen Pathways, which includes YED and several other programs, Villegas works closely with students as they explore healthcare careers, connect with mentors and begin building their own professional networks.

"The goal of the YED program is to ensure that we are connecting with students, exposing them to health careers, and allowing them to network and have mentors in their lives," Villegas said.

Since the program launched in 1993, more than 1,000 students have participated. Today, more than 400 YED alumni are employed across Cedars-Sinai Health System in roles ranging from nursing and research to administration.

Villegas said Giron's journey is exactly why Cedars-Sinai established the program.

"She is one of the perfect examples of what we want to see with the YED program," Villegas said. "She started as a student with dreams, and now she's back at the medical center where it all began-as a registered nurse."

Inspiring the Next Generation

Today, a new generation of students is getting that same opportunity to plan for their future careers.

Miguel Santos, a Fairfax High senior, moved to the United States from El Salvador when he was 9 years old. He joined the YED program two years ago, working at Cedars-Sinai Spine.

"I got the chance to shadow nurses here in the Spine department," Santos said. "I went into the rooms with them, met patients and saw the work they were doing-and I thought, 'Wow, this is amazing. I could do this one day.'"

That moment helped Santos envision his future.

"After high school, I plan to become a registered nurse," Santos said. "I really want to pursue pediatrics."

Santos hopes that one day, his journey will come full circle-just like Giron's.

"Hopefully, once I finish college, I can come back to Cedars-Sinai and work here," Santos said. "That would be my dream."

A Pipeline With Purpose

For Cedars-Sinai, programs like YED are about more than career exposure-they are about building a workforce that reflects the Los Angeles community while creating opportunities for success.

"Programs like YED are essential to the future of nursing," said David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Cedars-Sinai. "They give students early exposure to the profession, build confidence and create pathways into meaningful careers."

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