How I Teach
Finding the Good in Everyone
The key to being a great mentor is finding something to
love in every mentee. I culled this pearl of wisdom from
my children’s preschool teacher – more proof that lessons
can come from the most unexpected places.
My kids are all very different and, even when they
were difficult, this teacher never spoke negatively
about them – or any of the children in her classroom.
She was able to find something unique and special that
each child had to offer.
That’s a lesson that we can bring to the fellowship
Help Me Help You:
How to be a Good Mentee
Mentorship, like any healthy
relationship, is not a one-way street.
Here are some tips for helping your
mentor help you:
Get names, names, and more
names
When looking for a potential mentor,
always ask for recommendations. When
the names you hear are people you
have already met, you can start working
through that circle of contacts.
Be present
Showing up is critical to cultivating a
strong relationship with your mentor.
Be in clinic with him or her every week,
talk about what opportunities you are
interested in, initiate meetings, and ask
for career advice.
Get involved
When you get those answers, follow
up. Ask about projects you could
help with (such as writing a solicited
chapter). When you get an assignment,
do it – and do it on time! Be willing to
put yourself out there. In short, make
yourself useful – it will help you both.
Read signals
You can’t force the relationship.
Sometimes, faculty will have the
self-awareness to decline taking on a
trainee, but it’s important to be able to
read signals for those times when the
cues are less obvious.
Return the favor
Remember that this relationship isn’t
just about what your mentor can do for
you, but what can you do for him or her.
This is particularly true in academia,
where mentors are evaluated based on
their training records.
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ASH Clinical News
program – and in dealing with people, in general.
Taking this approach benefits everyone in the mentor/
mentee relationship: for the mentor, finding something
to appreciate your mentee strengthens the relationship;
fellows, in turn, feel listened to and supported as they
grow and take risks.
As a fellowship program director, people assume
that all I hear from fellows are complaints, but that’s an
incorrect perception. I spend more time talking with my
trainees about their passions, their interests, and what
excites them about hematology. This is what I love most
about being program director and being a mentor: watching my trainees become successful, and most of all, seeing
their happiness and independence grow. ●
Alison Loren, MD, MS, is Fellowship Program Director in the
Department of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.