ASH Clinical News March 2015 | Page 43

TRAINING and EDUCATION 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, disease-specific tips, or more general advice. Here, fellowship program director Alison Loren, MD, MS, shares some wisdom about mentorship. HOW I MENTOR ny fellow entering a training program is faced with an overwhelming number of opportunities – laboratory research, clinical practice, teaching and education, policy, communications, palliative skills… the list goes on. And, let’s face it, most fellows are overachievers. They want to say yes to and take advantage of every one of these opportunities. There’s nothing wrong with that attitude, but fellowship is the time to figure out what you love, and that means closing some doors. An ideal mentor – or, more likely, mentors – helps fellows progress along their career paths, providing support and guidance during their search as they identify what they want to do. Unfortunately, there is no special training program for traine