Ladies' Swim
Dr. Lisa Robinson from the Department of Paediatrics joined us during our last lunch meeting on July 30th. She talked to us about the steps she took that led to her position at U of T as a clinician-scientist, including at what point during this journey she managed to have her two children. She was in the US at the time where maternity leave was an astounding 3 weeks!
We also discussed the importance of mentorship to young scientists, as well as to grad students and postdocs. In the journal Clinical and Investigative Medicine, Morley Hollenberg states "... a mentor may be both an adviser and a role model but, on a personal level, will also be a teacher and friend. In graduate school and academic medicine, we find ourselves surrounded by formalities and hierarchies; within the mentor-mentee relationship, we encounter informality and unspoken equality that facilitates the free flow of knowledge and experience." (June 2003; 26,3;p.110)
In order for there to be this "informality and unspoken equality" there has to exist a certain comfort level between the mentor and mentee. In any research institute there is no shortage of academic role models, but to find a suitable mentor with whom one can relate to on a personal level requires that there be a pool of potential (and willing) mentors that is representative of the pool of mentees.
With scientists as inspiring and accessible as Lisa in faculty positions, this pool will continue growing to represent the many women in scientific graduate programs and postdocs at U of T.
Posted by Susan at August 19, 2004 02:36 AM