How I Teach
“How I Teach” is ASH Clinical News’ forum for sharing best practices
in teaching hematology to medical students, residents, and fellows.
We invite essays providing insight into teaching and modeling
clinical practice (history-taking, the physical exam, informed
consent, giving bad news), successful research mentoring, diseasespecific tips, or more general advice.
In this issue, we speak with the winners of the 2015 ASH Mentor
Awards: Curt I. Civin, MD, and Craig S. Kitchens, MD, MACP.
First, Dr. Civin talks about the challenges and the rewards of
mentoring. Dr. Civin is professor and director of the Center for Stem Cell
Biology & Regenerative Medicine and associate dean for research at the
University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr.
Civin is the winner of the 2015 ASH Basic Science Mentor Award.
WALKING THE WALK
With Curt I. Civin, MD
hy become a
mentor?
That’s a good question. We all know
mentoring is an unpaid hobby and usually
receives only local recognition, at best, so
why do we do it?
I became a mentor, in large part, because
I revered the mentors in hematology who
inspired me. They imparted their wisdom
but also guided me down my own path and
nurtured my ambitions. They took little
direct gain for this; it was, instead, their passion to mentor. What better way, I thought,
to make the world a better place than to give
a helping hand to young people in my field?
As a mentor, the most valuable recognition and rewards come from your trainees
and what they accomplish. Take Socrates,
the paradigm of a mentor. For all of his
unparalleled wisdom, he lived in poverty
and met a famously grim end – sentenced
to drink hemlock as punishment for corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens.
Socrates himself never published; he is
remembered, instead, for the writings by
the fabulous students he inspired.
What qualities make a great mentor?
In my opinion, the best mentor is a role model in the area he or she is
advising – walking the walk and talking the talk.
Again, look at Socrates: He never published in his career, but his
wisdom lived on through his students. However, how many of us can
count on becoming as good a mentor as Socrates and having trainees as
brilliant as Plato? Precious few, I’d imagine. Becoming a mentor doesn’t
provide mentors with a winning formula to relinquish their other scholarly activities completely to molding young minds.
So, mentors should continue to publish, continue to provide outstanding patient care, and continue to develop their careers. Otherwise, the
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mentors won’t keep their faculty positions and be there to mentor anyone!
In addition, without their own career accomplishments, mentors would
not be good role models for incoming generations of physicians and scientists.
Many trainees emulate their mentors, so mentors should set the right example.
If mentors cease publishing or halt their own career development, they might
be implicitly telling trainees to follow a foolish direction. Perhaps if mentors
become as good at mentoring as Socrates, they should devote the rest of their
lives to mentoring. Until then, mentors should create their own value to their
institutions and the world – and inspire their trainees to do so, as well.
How did you learn to be a mentor?
There were no classes in college or medical school that taught mentoring,
and human nature and personalities come into play, which were never
covered in my academic training.
The mentors I modeled myself after valued me and their other mentees as people first – encouraging them as future colleagues right from
the start. They cared for their trainees much as they cared for their own
families. And they stressed the value of their own families to their trainees; careers were not the only things in life that deserved their attention.
Many people throughout my life have acted as mentors – formal and
informal – and I hope the learning process never stops. The learning moments can come from anywhere and from unexpected places.
For example, many years ago, I received an unexpected lesson in
mentoring from the president of my hospital. I had a promising young
physician-scientist trainee (who is now a famous molecular hematologist-
As a mentor, the most valuable
recognition comes from your
trainees and what they accomplish. The best mentor is a role
model in the area he or she
is advising – walking the walk
and talking the talk. So, mentors should continue to publish,
provide outstanding patient
care, and develop their careers.
December 2015