Important Mentor Research Articles

In memoriam: Todd S. Ing, MD.

This special article describes the achievements and impact of Dr. Todd Siu-Toa Ing, MBBS, (1933-2023) on the field of nephrology as recounted by a colleague from Hong Kong, a U.S. nephrologist ex-trainee, and the daughter of an important mentor. Dr. Ing was a founding member of the International Society for Hemodialysis. He made important discoveries regarding the diagnosis of renal tubular acidosis and electrolyte transport in the gastrointestinal tract and published many innovative findings relating to peritoneal and hemodialysis. He was especially interested in nephrology and dialysis education and was co-editor of a Handbook of Dialysis that has been in publication in five editions since 1988 with translation into many foreign languages. Dr. Ing was very supportive of nephrology in China as well as Chinese nephrologists practicing in the United States, and was a founding member of the Chinese American Society of Nephrology.

“Star Maker”: George Powles, McClymonds High School, and the Youth of West Oakland

This article assesses the life and career of George Powles, a legendary White youth sport and high school coach from Oakland, California. Born in 1910, Powles guided local American Legion, Babe Ruth, and Connie Mack baseball teams to various state, regional, and national titles and coached a plethora of outstanding athletes first at McClymonds High School, a predominantly Black institution in West Oakland and then later at Skyline High School, a predominantly White institution at the crest of the Oakland foothills, who would go onto legendary careers in professional sport. Among those he coached were iconic African American athletes who realized lasting fame for both their accomplishments on the playing field and involvement in the larger civil rights movement. Included among these athletes was Bill Russell, the Hall of Fame basketball player who led the University of San Francisco to successive National Collegiate Athletic Association national titles and the Boston Celtics to multiple National Basketball Association championships; Frank Robinson, the Hall of Fame baseball player and first African American to manage a Major League baseball team; Vada Pinson, the outstanding outfielder who played multiple years of Major League baseball; and Curt Flood, the gold-glove winning outfielder who famously challenged baseball’s reserve clause. In the end, Powles was a coach who served as an important mentor of Black athletes and believed strongly in sports power to bridge racial differences and instill important values and develop character among youth from all walks of life and cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

R. Ross Holloway, 1934–2022

R. Ross Holloway, 1934–2022

Democratic faith. A philosophical profile of Richard J. Bernstein

Democratic faith. A philosophical profile of Richard J. Bernstein

From Landscapes to Projection Drama

From Landscapes to Projection Drama

“Ah! To Become the Balzac of America!”: The Balzacian Subtext of Sister Carrie

“Ah! To Become the Balzac of America!”: The Balzacian Subtext of <i>Sister Carrie</i>

The Loss of a Great One.

The Loss of a Great One.

Remote Mentorship in Radiation Oncology: Lessons to Share

Mentorship is a key factor in promoting and maintaining fulfillment in medical practice. Invariably, physician success stories usually have a common thread: an important mentor, or mentors, whose guidance proved invaluable. Finding mentors has been noted as a challenge for women in radiation oncology given low representation in the field.1 In 2019, women comprised only 17.4% of department chairs and program directors and 30.7% of faculty.2 Digital, or remote, mentorship seems an ideal solution to connect women mentors and mentees, especially given findings that over a quarter of female residents train in programs with less than or equal to 2 female faculty.

Jeannine Cavender-Bares.

Jeannine Cavender-Bares.

Mentorship during undergraduate surgical training: comparing perceptions of medical students and faculty at two institutions in South Africa and Sweden

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Having a mentor during undergraduate surgical training has been shown to positively influence medical students by increasing interest in surgery, improving confidence, and assisting in career planning. This study aimed to evaluate and compare medical student and faculty perceptions of mentorship during undergraduate surgical training and compare results between two teaching institutions in South Africa and Sweden METHODS: An electronic, online questionnaire was anonymously distributed to medical students and general surgical faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, and Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice, true or false, and five-point Likert scale questions, exploring perceptions of mentorship and role models, as well as rating the most important mentor characteristics RESULTS: Approximately one third (34.2%) of students stated they had a mentor during their surgical training, with significant differences found between student cohorts (p &lt; 0.001). The 'registrar' was most commonly reported as the best role model for medical students by faculty from both UCT (50.0%) and KI (69.4%), as well as UCT students (36.6%). Students rated the following mentor qualities significantly higher compared to faculty: student encouragement (p = 0.037), adequate supervision (p = 0.007), setting of fair expectations (p = 0.002), and teaching skills (p = 0.010 CONCLUSION: With significant differences existing in the perceptions of medical students and faculty regarding mentorship and role models during undergraduate surgical training in both South African and Swedish institutions, reconciling and harmonising these differences will be crucial in fostering constructive mentoring relationships Keywords: mentorship, role model, perception, surgical education

Determinants of Motivation for Mentoring Among Adults Volunteering to Mentor Youth

Most youth mentoring programs rely on volunteers to serve as mentors to youth. This study investigates factors associated with motivations for volunteering in this capacity, specifically altruistic and self-oriented reasons for becoming a mentor. Because adults who volunteer as mentors and youth mentees typically come from different socio-cultural backgrounds, the study examines demographic characteristics associated with these different motivations. In addition, the study addresses the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggesting that individuals with higher levels of empathy exhibit greater altruistic tendencies. For this analysis, the focus is on ethnocultural empathy and its association with volunteer motivations. The sample consisted of 1,000 volunteers who applied to mentor in 4 agencies affiliated with a national mentoring organization. The results indicated that mentors reporting higher levels of ethnocultural empathy were more likely to endorse altruistic motivations for volunteering. Younger volunteers, female volunteers, and volunteers of color reported higher levels of self-oriented motivations for volunteering. Female mentors, in general, reported higher levels of altruistic motivations for volunteering. Altruism and empathy, particularly the ability to connect with youth across cultural differences, are considered important mentor attributes conducive to healthy mentoring relationships. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Erich Przywara’s Theology of Israel: A Critical Response to “Historical Criticism”

AbstractIn the Anglophone world the Jesuit philosopher and theologian Erich Przywara (1889‐1972) tends to be known almost exclusively to Balthasar and Barth scholars (as an important mentor to the former and a formidable nemesis of the latter). In recent years, however, interest in Przywara has grown beyond these circles, owing in part to the English translation of his magnum opus, Analogia Entis (2014), and a handful of articles and monographs on his thought. Indeed, it is gradually being recognized that Przywara was an important philosopher and theologian in his own right – of no less stature, and arguably profounder, than the most recognized names in modern theology – even if he did not possess the same oratorical gifts. At the same time, however, a shadow has been cast over this recovery effort since an American church historian named Paul Peterson accused Przywara, along with Balthasar and even Barth, of varying degrees of anti‐Semitism and fascist sympathies – charges that, were they true, would make one reluctant to read him or find out why Edith Stein, Balthasar, Rahner, Josef Pieper et al. thought so highly of him. The point of this article, accordingly, is to set the record straight, at least as far as Przywara’s supposed “anti‐Semitism” is concerned (his view of National Socialism will be treated separately). It is understandable, of course, that Peterson is troubled that theologians could have contributed to the conditions that led to the horrors of the Shoah; and this alone justifies the zeal of his investigations. But the unfortunate way he has conducted them has also come with a cost: in this case, the misrepresentation of the intentions and the unjust impugning of the character of an eminent theologian, from whom, according to Rahner and Balthasar – indeed, according to John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis – the church still has much to learn. But, as regrettable as this may be, Peterson’s investigations have also done a service for modern theology: not only have they occasioned a closer look at Przywara’s cultural and political views, which was overdue; they have also helped to uncover, however inadvertently, a distinctly Pauline theology of Israel, aspects of which may yet prove fruitful.

Mentoring Characteristics and Functions Important to Men and Women within Intercollegiate Athletic Administration

Female athletic administrators were asked about the role of mentoring in their careers as women while male athletic administrators were asked about the role of mentoring in their careers as men working in intercollegiate athletic administration. The researchers gathered and compared information on mentor characteristics as well as career and psychosocial benefits of having a mentor. Participants were 518 female and 778 male athletic administrators working at NCAA Division I, II, and IIII, NAIA, NCCAA, and NJCAA schools. A three-step content-analytic procedure was used to analyze the qualitative data.&#x0D; Men identified being trustworthy, supportive, respected, and a good listener while women identified being supportive, hardworking, and knowledgeable as the most important mentor characteristics. Men most frequently named coaching and challenging assignments as career benefits from mentors while women named exposure/visability and coaching. Both men and women most frequently identified counseling and role modeling as psychosocial benefits from mentors.

Matthias Nahrendorf: Healing Insights.

Born in Salzwedel, East Germany, Matthias Nahrendorf entered adulthood just as the Iron Curtain was lifting in Eastern Europe. He earned his medical degree and PhD in cardiovascular biology at Heidelberg University, and completed his residency plus fellowships in internal medicine and cardiovascular imaging at University of Wuerzburg. In 2004, a postdoctoral position at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Molecular Imaging Research brought Nahrendorf to Boston. He is now a principal investigator at MGH’s Center for Systems Biology and director of the hospital’s Mouse Imaging Program. Nahrendorf, 45, is pursuing a deeper understanding of the consequences of ischemic injury, especially regarding how monocytes/macrophages impact acute healing and scar development,1–3 and how an imbalance in the process fuels prolonged inflammation and then heart failure. An associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, Nahrendorf and his collaborators are also developing molecular imaging tools to noninvasively study regulators of heart failure biology and infarct healing processes.4–6 A long-term goal of the work is to devise new therapies for ischemic injury that reduce the action of inflammatory cells to what is necessary only to promote healthy healing, Nahrendorf says. If that could be achieved, “Ideally we wouldn’t have heart failure anymore.” I have one brother, he’s younger, and my parents. It was a pretty sheltered childhood. I grew up in Magdeburg, and the (Berlin) Wall came down when I was 18. Army service was compulsory in East Germany. So I spent one year in the army and then Germany reunited, so I was free to go wherever I wanted. My parents are both doctors. My dad is a cardiologist, my mom a pediatrician. I had a happy childhood. They were never telling me what to do. But I was obviously influenced by their jobs. They talked about …

Roxane Spitzer, PhD, RN, MBA, MA, FAAN

It is my privilege to interview a great nurse leader, mentor and colleague; Dr. Roxane Spitzer. Dr. Spitzer has had a long and stellar career leaving her "footprint" on the profession of nursing and healthcare administration. She has mentored many nurses as they progressed on their career track. I know you will enjoy hearing about her and hearing from her leadership journey as she answers my interview questions.

Ned Birdsall's Academic Ancestry

I briefly describe Ned Birdsall's doctoral research on microwave devices at Stanford, and his interaction with Lester Field, who was his official thesis advisor, and Marvin Chodorow, who was second reader of his thesis and a more important mentor. Considering only proven official thesis advisors, Ned's ancestry can be traced back to Edward Leamington Nichols, founder of Physical Review, and then to C. F. Gauss. If other important mentors are included, then Ned's direct ancestors include Eugene Wigner and Percy Bridgman as great-grandfathers, as well as Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, and Lavoisier. By this expanded definition, Max Planck is a brother of E. L. Nichols, being a fellow student of Helmholtz and Kirchhoff, whereas Sigmund Freud is their first cousin on one side, and Felix Klein, a direct ancestor of Einstein, Heisenberg, and Born, is their first cousin on the other side. Other direct ancestors include John Trowbridge, an early plasma physicist whose 1873 doctoral thesis at Harvard included research on the electrical properties of gas flames. Earlier ancestors, going back hundreds of years, are also discussed, and these early ancestors are likely shared by almost every living physicist.

Letters to a Young Scientist by E.O. Wilson

 2013 Children, Youth and Environments Children, Youth and Environments 23(3), 2013 Letters to a Young Scientist E.O. Wilson (2013). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 256 pages. $21.95 USD (hardback). ISBN-10: 0871403773 E.O. Wilson is one of the world’s premier field biologists and advocates for biodiversity. Having read and been inspired by many of Wilson’s previous works, I was eager to read this book. I realized part way through that I was hoping for a series of letters to a much younger reader than this book is intended: a reader like my 7-year-old son, who is bursting with keen observations and a passion for the natural world, as well as an inventive and curious mind that is ready for adventure. While Wilson does sketch out basic character traits of early scientists just like my son—observational skills, passion for one’s subject, early and unstructured observations with nature, and even daydreaming—this is a relatively minor component of the book. This book is a collection of letters and essays about Wilson’s perspective on a career in science, addressed to potential scientists or those just beginning their careers. Some letters focus on the need for connecting with other disciplines, including traditional sciences as well as the social sciences, humanities, and creative arts. Another letter discusses the application and relationship of mathematics to science. He provides a hopeful message that some scientists—such as himself—who are dedicated to discovery and field science, use math less often and differently than those who build large-scale theories. Still other letters chart out some of the adventures in the search for discovery of new life that he himself has had and that are still needed in a variety of domains. Throughout the book he makes the plea that we need scientists more than ever. Yet, I think the book is largely written for other scientists like himself, who have been through the trenches and enjoyed the journey, more than for young people considering careers in science today. While Wilson makes the case that we need scientists now more than ever, he also makes the scientific world feel an exclusive and specialized place. Some of the included letters describe the basic skills and types of thinking needed to make a career in science. He describes a life of hard work, long hours, and no vacations. While many professions fit this description, the book made me wonder at what point science as a profession will adapt to make room for people who do not fit this mold, or for people who want to spend time with their family in a more balanced way. We need to create room for more diversity in what the profession looks like, so that it can work for the many types of minds required for the future. Book Review: Letters to a Young Scientist 202 Research in science education has documented a declining interest in science professions in the last thirty to forty years (Osborne, Simon and Collins 2010). Wilson himself attributes his aspiration for science to his time spent outside in the fields of his home rather than in school. In studies of young people’s attitudes toward science, researchers have found that students’ attitudes are generally positive until about age 11, when they enter middle and high school (Osborne, Simon and Collins 2010). Wilson persevered despite his schooling because of his early days of exploration and an important mentor in biology from Harvard. However the vast majority of others do not have access to such experiences or mentors, and their attitudes reflect a notion of science that is neither interesting nor easy for the general public. Masnick and colleagues (2010) found that students considered scientific careers to be less creative and less people-oriented than other professions, which led to students’ comparably low interest in science professions. Wilson’s letters do little to convince young readers that this is not the case. In fact, Wilson suggests that most scientists are introverted and conduct much of their best work alone rather than in collaboration. While Wilson advocates the need for crosspollination with more creative arts, he does not show...

In Memoriam: John L. Emmerson

Dr John Lynn Emmerson, Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar and long-time member of the Society, passed away on June 27, 2012 in Portland, Oregon following a lengthy convalescence due to an automobile accident and a series of strokes. He was 78. Born in the southwestern Indiana town of Owensville on November 21, 1933, Dr Emmerson liked to return frequently to the area to visit with family and boyhood friends. John graduated from Owensville High School in 1951 and then joined the Navy, attaining the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. After being discharged from the Navy, John enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at Purdue University and received a BS degree in 1958. In 1957, he married Karen Nethery, a student in Pharmacy who went into practice while John went on to graduate school. John received his Master’s degree in Pharmacology in 1959, followed by a PhD in 1961. His mentor, Dr Tom S. Miya, was a founding member of the Society of Toxicology and a noted toxicologist in his own right. Dr Miya was the president of SOT from 1979 to 1980. Dr Emmerson began his professional career at Eli Lilly and Company in 1961 where he was hired as a senior pharmacologist by Drs R. C. Anderson and K. K. Chen, both widely respected pharmacologists at the time. Dr Emmerson was the 35th member of the Toxicology Department, which was housed in a single building in Indianapolis along with chemists, pharmacologists, clinical physicians, and drug formulation experts. During these early years, Dr Emmerson gained a vital understanding of what a daunting task it is to discover and bring forth a new therapeutic agent, given the high probability of failure. But the enduring lesson he absorbed and passed on to his colleagues was an absolutely essential component for success: the rapid and faithful transmission of scientific data among all of the scientific areas. When it became apparent that longer and more elaborate studies were needed to support new candidate pharmaceuticals than what could be conducted in the Indianapolis facility, Drs Anderson and Emmerson led an effort to design a new building for Toxicology in Greenfield, Indiana, some 23 mi east of the Indianapolis Lilly Corporate center. The new laboratory opened in 1962 with a staff that had grown to 50 individuals. Dr Emmerson left Lilly in the 1965–1966 school year to serve as an Associate Professor of Toxicology in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Purdue University, but he soon learned that the academic life was not for him; so, he returned to Lilly in 1966. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed the Head of the Metabolism Department which was later renamed Biochemical Toxicology in recognition of the mechanistic research the group was asked to pursue. By 1973, John’s activities were consumed by managerial duties when he was asked to also be the head of the Pathology Department and the two departments were combined. In 1977, he became Director of Toxicology Studies, which, combined with the Metabolism and Pathology Departments, encompassed nearly all of us who were in Toxicology at the time. Despite his demanding managerial responsibilities, John remained an ardent scientist and mentor who particularly favored coaching and nurturing younger scientists in the art of writing concise and lucid study reports. It was always his strong belief that any report submitted to a regulatory agency be of absolute top quality, taking the reader through the rationale for why the study needed to be conducted, the doses that were selected, a synopsis of previous studies and their findings in conjunction with a thoughtful interpretation of the results, linking findings of this study together with other nonclinical or clinical findings that might be relevant. John felt strongly that such reports should be reviewed by all components that contributed to the work and that they should attest by signature that they agreed with the interpretation of the findings. Even though this would lengthen the overall process, he believed this approach delivered a more comprehensive, higher quality report and also reflected the overarching philosophy of the company. For many of us at Eli Lilly and Company, John was an important scientific mentor and colleague in our professional lives— a role which he generously played for all of the toxicologists he brought into the company. John was both an astute scientist and a great communicator who could distill the essence of multidisciplinary toxicologic findings and assess their significance to human safety. These attributes made him a role model to all of us in Toxicology. toxicological sciences 130(2), 215–216 (2012) doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfs276 Advance Access publication September 12, 2012

Academic Women Faculty: Are They Finding the Mentoring They Need?

Although women comprise an increasing proportion of US medical school faculty, they are underrepresented at higher ranks. Lack of effective mentoring may contribute to this disparity. We examined the role of academic rank, research focus, parenting, and part-time work on mentoring importance, needs, and gaps. In 2009, women faculty members of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine were invited by e-mail to participate in a 28-item structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and adjusted logistic regressions were used to identify relevant themes. Of the 1179 women faculty who responded, 54% had a mentor, and 72% without a mentor desired mentoring. The most important mentor characteristic identified was availability. Respondents endorsed most mentoring areas as important (range 51%-99%); 52% of respondents identified mentoring gaps (area important and unmet) in developing and achieving career goals and negotiation skills. Interest in mentorship for skills needed for advancement (research and lecturing skills and getting national recognition) was significantly associated with lower rank. Assistant professors were most likely to identify mentoring related to writing and publishing articles, whereas associate professors identified program development/strategic planning as important. Faculty who are parents identified gaps in finding collaborators and balancing work and family life. This survey identified a desire for both comprehensive and targeted mentoring to address gaps that varied by faculty rank, research focus, parenting, and work time status. Strategies to enhance mentoring should address career stages and include a structured framework for assessing mentoring gaps.

Mentoring—It's All Good, Right?

Mentoring—It's All Good, Right?