Featured Faculty: Mentorship Committee Members
Dr. Ayelet Kuper
Five years from now, what do you hope the Mentorship, Equity and Diversity (MED) Committee will have accomplished for the Department of Medicine?
I hope that all divisions and sites within our department, as well as the department as a whole, will have cultures of civility and equity that continue to draw people to want to spend their careers at the University of Toronto and in the Department of Medicine (DoM).
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the department with regards to Mentorship, Equity and Diversity, and what steps can we take to address them?
I think our biggest challenge is complacency. When you’re successful yourself it’s hard to remember that even though things are better for many people and groups than they were decades ago, that still isn’t good enough. We still have to make sure "the rules of the game" in the DoM (and in the institutions with which it interacts) don’t inadvertently penalize some of the members of our department.
What role(s) have you taken on personally to help further the committee goals?
Within the MED committee I have focused on bringing my academic knowledge related to equity and diversity to the committee table (whether by providing relevant articles or by using sociological lenses in my analysis of the situation under discussion) and to documents created by the committee.
Tell us about a personal experience with mentoring (either as mentee or mentor) and how it made a difference for your life/career.
My mentors have always encouraged me to do the kind of research I want to do — not to conform to the expectations that physicians or even medical educators might have of medical education research, but to use my unique combination of education and training (including graduate work in both the humanities and in the social sciences) to bring new ideas to the research field and to educational practice. This approach has been very successful for me thus far, not to mention lots of fun! It has also drawn me to become a mentor myself in order to support more junior faculty members who want to bring their own outsider perspectives to their academic work.
What mentorship tip do you have for new faculty just starting their careers?
Recognize that having a senior mentor with significant influence can really help your career — and that not having someone in your corner who knows the system can sometimes hurt it. It may be hard to find that person at the beginning (especially if you don’t have a lot of local connections) but keep looking, and get your friends, colleagues and more junior mentors to help you.
Dr. Robert Wu
Five years from now, what do you hope the Mentorship, Equity and Diversity (MED) Committee will have accomplished for the Department of Medicine?
It would be wonderful if it is no longer needed! Realistically, the issues on mentorship, equity and diversity that the committee is addressing are both significant and complex so ongoing work is likely required. In five years, we will ideally have the processes and structures in place to make sure all members of our faculty are well supported and feel valued. These include processes in hiring, promotions and the provision of opportunities. These may also take into account being included in formal and informal networks. These processes also include methods to safely report and resolve issues of abuse, bullying and other unprofessional behaviour.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the department with regards to Mentorship, Equity and Diversity, and what steps can we take to address them?
With respect to mentorship, the challenge is having broad systematic processes to ensure that all faculty, regardless of position description or seniority, have helpful and meaningful mentorship. Currently, assigned mentors and mentees are often unaware of their formal relationship. We do need to adopt proper processes that work. These may include dedicated faculty who support mentorship within divisions through the new position of mentorship facilitators.
With respect to gender equity, there is good data as described by our Chair’s March 2016 newsletter. Dr. Hawker outlined the still present but decreasing gap in recruitment of men compared to women (1.3 to 1) and that less than one third of senior Department of Medicine leadership positions are held by women. It is unclear if these are due to rational decision making in career decisions or barriers to advancement. More work is required to understand this. With respect to diversity, we don’t have as clear an idea of what is going on. An initial challenge is how we are going to measure diversity issues within the Department of Medicine.
What role(s) have you taken on personally to help further the committee goals?
One of the committee’s goals is to recognize Department of Medicine mentorship through the selection of the recipient of the mentorship award. The Robert Hyland Award for Excellence in Mentorship is important in both celebrating excellent mentorship and encouraging mentorship. I am leading a subgroup of the committee which has taken on the challenge of explicitly defining the criteria of a great mentor. Our group would like to make the selection process more transparent and objective. Through a review of the previous process for determining the recipient, the processes for other awards’ recipients as well as processes for mentorship awards at other institutions, we have developed criteria and a process for selecting the recipient. While most of the criteria reflect mentors’ behaviours and skills, the criteria also includes being a role model of civility and professionalism, which is another mentorship, equity and diversity committee goal.
Tell us about a personal experience with mentoring (either as mentee or mentor) and how it made a difference for your life/career.
When I was starting out, Sharon Straus was instrumental to me as a mentor. At that time, we had a shared interest in informatics. She provided me with opportunities for grant writing, manuscript review, conducting research and collaboration. As part of her research group, she modeled a professional, successful researcher and manager. She also provided office space apart from clinical setting for dedicated writing and introduced the importance of time management skills. These skills and opportunities have been invaluable in my career.
What mentorship tip do you have for new faculty just starting their careers?
I find it quite encouraging that many new faculty are already tuned in to how important mentorship is. I think this is a positive development since I was a new staff. My tip would be, as Frances Shepherd wrote in a recent advice column, “Seek out mentors, of any gender, who can help you.” If people don’t know where to find a mentor, I would recommend that they speak to their division head or the soon to be appointed mentorship facilitators. For further information, there are some good articles in the literature about what makes a good mentor-mentee relationship.
Dr. Christie Lee
Five years from now, what do you hope the Mentorship, Equity and Diversity Committee (MED) will have accomplished for the Department of Medicine?
As a new faculty member within the Department of Medicine, I think one of the primary areas of focus should be on building an adequate mentorship base and a transparent process for mentorship within the department. For some junior faculty, finding the “perfect” mentor takes time and these individuals may benefit from an early introduction to the mentorship process. Many people also identify themselves with more than one mentor, and I think it would be very useful to develop a strong mentorship program even at the residency and fellowship level. This would help to identify potential future faculty, facilitate trainee transition into faculty, and ensure faculty success within their appointed, clinical academic positions. From a local divisional level, I think it would be important to have an identified mentorship lead within each division, whose primary focus is to meet with faculty, ensure that mentorship is ongoing at every level, and to facilitate appropriate mentorship relationships throughout an individual’s career based on academic goals and objectives.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the Department with regards to Mentorship, Equity and Diversity, and what steps can we take to address them?
I think one of the biggest challenges with our Department is the size and geographic spread across the city. We are 19 divisions spread across five hospitals, which makes it hard to feel connected with every member. I think the department is working very hard to promote inclusion, in particular, with events such as the Department of Medicine Annual Day, and moving forward, having more events such as these throughout the year may also help to promote a sense of connection across the city. The second major challenge is fostering and maintaining a high level of faculty satisfaction within the department. It is very easy for faculty to become focused on work, research, and scholarly activities and sometimes life outside of work becomes secondary. Physician well-being should be a focus, and encouraging faculty to maintain healthy work-life balance can help to promote ongoing happiness and success in the workplace.
What role(s) have you taken on personally to help further the committee goals?
As a junior faculty member, I recently joined the Mentorship, Equity & Diversity (MED) Committee because of my interest in faculty development and mentorship. Within the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, as the director of the Training Evaluation Committee, the goal and mandate of the committee is to identify trainees in difficulty earlier during the program and provide support/mentorship to ease the transition into fellowship. As a local education site coordinator, it is also my responsibility to meet with trainees on a regular basis, work with trainees to achieve their personal goals and objectives during the rotation, and provide resources and mentors to promote scholarly activities.
Tell us about a personal experience with mentoring (either as mentee or mentor) and how it made a difference for your life/career.
When I was a second year medical resident, I was very fortunate to work have Dr. Rob Fowler as my CTU attending. At that time, I was developing an interest in ICU and he was a great teacher and mentor. He was also an excellent resource and stressed the importance of finding a good mentor. He introduced me to Dr. Margaret Herridge who was one of my primary mentors throughout residency and fellowship. Margaret really taught me the importance of work-life balance, keeping my priorities straight, and most importantly, taught me what it was to be a good mentor and mentee. She was always honest, transparent, and clear about expectations; and most importantly, always modeled the behaviour that she expected of others in her role. Today, as a clinician-teacher, I spend a lot of my time with trainees from various levels, specialties and background. I try my best to help them identify career goals, provide opportunities to meet other faculty, and develop strong mentor-mentee relationships.
What mentorship tip do you have for new faculty just starting their careers?
I think the most important tip would be to always be honest with yourself and to really try and identify your personal strengths, weaknesses and interests. You can only be successful if you are really passionate about what you do – and finally, just like our aspirations can change, I don’t think it’s realistic to believe that there is only one perfect mentor. Most of us can probably identify with more than one mentor and during different phases of our career certain mentors may take more active roles than others. It’s all about the ebb and flow of academic medicine and how to stay ahead.
