Based on academic achievement and leadership qualities, Mercer Island High School junior Gordon Zhang was nominated to attend the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in mid-November in Washington, D.C.

Zhang, 16, will hear from Nobel laureates and National Medal of Science winners, get advice from medical school deans and spend time with teen prodigies and other highly-motivated high school students.

“Congratulations to you on your nomination, you should be very proud of yourself,” said Dr. Connie Mariano, rear admiral in the United States Navy (ret.) and medical director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists. Mariano, who also served as White House physician to three United States presidents, nominated Zhang. “I look forward to seeing you at the congress in Washington, D.C. at the Armory in November.”

“I offer my congratulations to Gordon on this exceptional achievement,” said MIHS Principal Vicki Puckett. “This once-in-a-lifetime event is an opportunity to connect with experts and share experiences with other talented students while exploring innovative ideas about the future.”

Confirmed speakers include Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the National Institutes of Health, Fred Murad, M.D., Ph.D., winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine and prodigies like 20-year-old Shree Bose and 19-year-old Brittany Wenger, the grand prize winners of the 2011 and 2012 Google Science Fairs. Also speaking will be 17-year-old inventor, scientist and cancer researcher Jack Andraka. When he was 15, Andraka created a new diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer that is 28 times faster, 26,000 times less expensive and more than 100 times more sensitive than the current diagnostic tests.