ASH Clinical News February 2016 | Page 19

UP FRONT my work at the CIBMTR, I’ve had the opportunity to go to some fantastic places. Every place is unique, but if you said, “Tomorrow, you can do anything you want to do,” I think I’d walk around Paris. Traveling for work lets me meet new people in the transplant community, as well. Transplanters are a relatively small, international community. It is a wonderful thing to be able to meet and work with people from all over the world. What is one thing that most people don’t know about you? Public speaking is one of my biggest fears. It’s the only thing that nearly drove me out of academic medicine. When I first started, I was petrified of public speaking. If I had to present an abstract or give a talk, I would practice and study for a week before I actually had to speak so I was completely over-prepared. It took me years to get over it. I still get a little nervous before a talk, but nothing like when I was younger. I wasn’t ever terrible at public speaking, but I was convinced that it was going to be awful every time I took the podium. What was the strangest interview you’ve been on? The first person I interviewed with before medical school spent the entire time telling me why women did not belong Challenge accepted The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center is taking on Kentucky and Appalachia’s cancer challenge Kentucky faces an enormous challenge. Our state, and specifically the Appalachian area of the Commonwealth, has both the highest incidence of cancer and the highest cancer mortality rate in the country. Although the challenges are significant, so too are our efforts to fight this disease. To learn more about what Markey is doing to lessen the toll cancer takes on patients and their families, visit ukhealthcare.uky.edu/ChallengeAccepted. 6-6818 in medical school, including that they would be taking a job away from man. As we finished the interview he said, “Well, I won’t hold it against you.” I was nervous and scared, but anyone who knows me knows that I couldn’t let it go, so I said in a very meek voice, “Well, that would be illegal, wouldn’t it?” My next interview was with the nicest man in the world, who ended up as my attending when I was pregnant with our second child, during my internship. But on our first interview, he did ask me what my husband thought about me going to medical school and if I – who was eight weeks pregnant at the time – intended to have a family. He didn’t ask me when, so I just said, “Yes, I intend to have a family.” What advice do you give to mentees or trainees? There are two things I think all trainees should know: Learn to write and ask for help. Writing is so important in academic medicine, yet, when we complete our fellowship training, while everyone knows how to take care of patients, few know how to write well. I tell young trainees: “Make yourself write something every day, until it becomes second nature.” You could have the best idea in the world, but you have to be able to present your ideas so that other people can understand and appreciate their importance. A well-written grant proposal could mean the difference between your great idea being funded or just remaining a great idea. I also see that young people don’t ask for help because they are afraid of criticism – criticism of their ideas, their approach, their writing. They spend so much time trying to get everything perfect before they run things by their friends and mentors, that they lose valuable time. All I can say is “Get over it!” Better to get criticism early from friendly advisors than from grant or manuscript reviewers! At this stage in my career, I enjoy mentoring and helping young faculty. The people I work with have talent and drive and persistence, and it’s amazing to see what they can do with a little push and guidance. The best part of my job is seeing one of my faculty members achieve something they’ve worked so hard for. I just had a young faculty member receive his first R01 grant, and I was so happy I thought my face was going to split from smiling so much. ● ASH Clinical News 17