Systems-Based Practice CEO 5.4 Identify and utilize professional role models as a means of growth and accept the responsibility of acting as a role model and teaching and training others.
A mentor is a trusted adviser and coach who helps make the unfamiliar, familiar and guides the less experienced. Finding good mentors and role models can be difficult because of the many prospective candidates for the job of mentor only a few individuals are truly suited. Mentor is really a title that is bestowed on an individual by the mentee. Some individuals really never rise personally or professionally to ever be considered as a mentor. There are a variety of reasons. For example, some improperly appropriate your efforts in research without acknowledging you as a colleague or coauthor. Others are simply not up to the difficult job and bail when effort or leadership is needed. As a consequence, research projects can come to a screeching halt, leaving you scrambling to find a new one. Over commitment on the part of potential mentors may also lead to poor outcomes. Through the years, I have seen variations on these themes and will keep them in mind as cautionary tales of what not to do. Thankfully, I have also had the good fortune to discover genuine mentors who have served as positive role models to me.
Let me describe two of the exceptional mentors that I am privileged to be working with during my fourth year research rotation: Dr. Chiang and Dr. Elmaraghy. Dr. Elmaraghy makes a point of giving back to OSUCOM by serving as the advisor of the Otolarynology Interest Group, where I had my first real exposure to otolaryngology. Through that group, I gained access to the ENT Mentorship Program, which was like a second extracurricular longitudinal practice with clinic visits bimonthly, readings, presentations, OR shadowing, and lectures. I worked with him on a chart review evaluating the effect of pre-operative oral midazolam on post-operative oral fluid intake after tonsillectomy. Our finished abstract was accepted to the Society for Ear Nose and Throat Advances in Children (SENTAC) annual meeting as a poster, Figure 1.
Meanwhile, with Dr. Chiang, I studied a novel quantification method of the area of migration of human airway epithelial cells. Long-segment tracheal defects are rare but not well resolved using current best practice. Tissue engineered trachea grafts, one solution, have been complicated by restenosis, particularly at the anastomotic sites. Slow or inadequate epithelialization may contribute to cicatrix formation that leads to stenosis. Increasing the rate of epithelial migration onto tissue engineered trachea grafts may decrease anastomotic stenosis and improve outcomes. I assisted with the experimental design, data collection, trouble-shooting, literature review, and writing. Also, I developed protocols for imaging with The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) – Biopathology Center and solved problems of scaffold mounting and Transwell membrane adhesion to scaffolds. Together, we are preparing an initial draft manuscript for publication. NCH is exploring patenting a device that I invented and 3D printed. Beyond just providing scientific guidance, Dr. Chiang tirelessly edited multiple rounds of my personal statement and gave me excellent advice to prepare me for my otolaryngology rotation, which I put to good use.
Figure 1: Evaluation of the effect of pre-operative oral midazolam on post-operative oral fluid intake after tonsillectomy.
Dr. Clotilde Bowen was a woman of many firsts: the first African American woman to graduate from OSUCOM, the first female physician in the United States Army, and the first female commander of a military hospital when she was assigned to Ft. Benjamin Harrison, IN. She is an inspiration to all trailblazers and a model of how to stay strong against adversity. In 2015, OSUCOM established the Bowen Circle to honor her legacy, demonstrating that role models can be historic figures who encourage people to have visions and keep moving forward. My friend Antoinette kindly invited me to the Bowen Circle meetings. I was able to put my artistic talents to work in designing a pin for the new group, in Figure 2. The Bowen Circle meetings have reinforced the importance of supporting the resilience and goals of my incoming colleagues. My interactions there have also helped expand my horizons as I learn from my peers. Another student member talked about her research on maintaining the health of black hair. The treatments for white hair don’t necessarily work on black hair and often haven’t been tested on black volunteers, causing a lack of evidence-based medicine in the treatment of disorders of black hair. Her research is a social justice issue, and the concepts behind it apply to many other disorders and medicines. Medical school teaches us that black patients respond better to calcium channel blockers and diuretics for hypertension than ACE inhibitors and β-blockers, but there are many other areas where the question hasn’t even been asked. A friend of mine who was several years ahead of me had to scour PubMed while pregnant and sick, trying to determine if it was safe for her and her fetus if she took diphenhydramine, because there is so little data on what medications are safe in pregnancy. Such role models open my eyes to the pressing and ongoing issues that require attention.
Figure 2: Bowen Circle Pin that I designed.
I embrace the opportunities and responsibility of acting as a role model, teaching, and training others. In Dr. Chiang and Dr. Reynolds’s lab at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where I continue to do research, there are many researchers at different levels of training. Some of the youngest researchers are high school students, working on gathering data for a poster for one of their high school requirements. There are also undergraduate students. This summer, one of the undergraduate students from a neighboring lab was accepted to OSUCOM. I congratulated her and spent several lunches with her and some of the other undergraduates answering questions about medical school. I tailored my advice to where they were in their journeys. For the one about to matriculate to OSUCOM, I told her about OSUCOM’s many research scholarships and our fine ultrasound program, as well as resources I found useful such as Pathoma, SketchyMicro, uWorld, and First Aid. For the undergraduates who were still some time away from applying, I talked to them about strategies for studying for the MCAT and how they can keep track of important experiences for their applications. I keep in mind what I would have liked to have known when I was in their shoes. Thus, I share things I have come to learn through my medical-school experiences.
The two high school students in the lab, Braedyn and Selam, are interested in going to medical school and pursing emergency medicine and pediatric neurology, respectively. While teaching them how to mount slides, I also answered their questions about undergraduate university and medical school. I suggested that they set up spreadsheets to log their hours doing research, work, volunteering, and shadowing, so that when they apply to medical school, they will have a simple record of everything they did. People often underrate what they have done, so I explained the STAR approach of Situation, Task, Action, and Results. When telling a story to someone of what you did, you explain the situation and the task at hand, what actions you personally took, and the results you obtained, in as specific detail as possible. For example, if you say that you raised some money for a local homeless shelter, a skeptical interview will assume the worst and thing you only raised $10. If you say you organized ten of your friends and together personally canvassed 500 houses and raised $5,000 for the homeless shelter, which they put toward a purchase of a new air conditioner, you have told a much better story that highlights your leadership and determination. I also emphasized that if research is worth doing, it is worth doing for credit. They should, whenever starting a new research project, check if the mentor has published with students before and ask the mentor their expectations of what milestones a student has to reach to earn a poster or publication.
Braedyn and Selam, the high school students, went with me to the Bowen Circle Tea #3, in Figure 3, where they were able to network with both physicians and students in various levels of training. Everyone who had advice that could be useful to someone shared it. Showing that mentorship can occur at any level and between near peers, Dr. Sarah Jonaus mentioned that she had set up quarterly networking brunches for the faculty around her and how it makes consults smoother when people are consulting a friend they shared brunch with, rather than a name in the EMR. I explained how the third year Rings system at OSUCOM worked to a M2 who wanted more information and talked to M3s about Part 3 and ERAS applications. Something that I wish I had known is that you can ask to shadow the chair of a department early on in your medical school experiences if you think you might be interested in that department, so I made sure to tell them. I also mentioned that research or volunteering mentors can write great letters, but if you can, shadow them in clinic. Then they can write a comprehensive letter. My friend Antoinette, who does high school outreach as part of her ongoing volunteer service, spent a good chunk of time with Braedyn and Selam, answering their questions about college applications. Dr. Monika Chaudhari agreed to refer Braedyn and Selam to some emergency physicians and pediatric neurologists she knows to see if they might be able to arrange shadowing. I am the first person in my family to attend medical school and have had to metaphorically re-invent the wheel in many areas that may be obvious to those who come from medical families. When I was shadowing before medical school, I had to cold call physicians I knew or that my family and friends knew. I was glad to be able to give my mentees more options and connections.
Going forward, I will keep in mind what makes a good role model as I look for my own role models and as I embody the best me I can. As a mentor to others, I will use what I have learned and found effective from those who have mentored me.
Figure 3: Bowen Circle Tea #3, mentors and mentees.