Abbas E. Kitabchi, PhD, MD: An Exemplary Mentor and Clinical Researcher.

Abstract

The word “mentor” was first used in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey . When Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, went to fight the Trojan War, he asked Mentor to serve as a teacher and overseer to his son Telemachus. Mentor failed in his duties, and it was Athena, goddess of war and patroness of the arts and industry, who assumed the form of Mentor and served as Telemachus’ wise and trusted adviser and counselor. The first recorded modern usage of the term can be traced to the 18th century book entitled Les Aventures de Telemaque , by the French writer Fenelon. Since then, the word “mentor” has evolved to mean trusted adviser, a wise and responsible tutor who shares knowledge with and inspires, challenges, and serves as a role model to a less experienced person. Dr. Abbas E. Kitabchi exemplifies all the attributes of a great mentor, as can be attested by the large number of health care professionals that have benefited from his mentoring during the past four decades. Abbas E. Kitabchi at the Clinical Research Unit, UTHSC, Memphis, TN Dr. Kitabchi, or Abbie as his friends and relatives call him, was born in Teheran, Iran, in 1933. He was the third among seven siblings and the first in his family to receive a high school education. His father, Hossein Eqbal Kitabchi, was a publisher and his mother was a housewife. After completing high school, he immigrated to the U.S. at 17 years of age to attend Cornell College in Mount Vernon, IA, to follow his father’s dream for Abbie to become a heart surgeon. He remembers:As a young immigrant with almost no ability to speak English and only $600 in my pocket, it was indeed uncomfortable and challenging at first. I was scared and lonely living in …