Illinois Medicine

' ' There is a high return on investment for mentorship. It is how excellence happens. Pau li n e Ma ki , P hD Roadmap for a Successful Career Associate professor talks about her mentorship in cardiac research D P h o t o : R o b e r ta D u p u i s - D e v l i n iastolic heart failure is more than a research topic for College of Medicine Associate Professor Heather Prendergast, MD, MPH, FACEP. She had not only witnessed its debilitating and deadly effects on a daily basis as an emergency physician but also watched her own father die of the disease. "I saw patients coming in to the emergency department repeatedly for heart failure," says Prendergast. "They'd be admitted to the hospital and discharged after a day or two— only to return a few weeks later." Her focus solidified when her father died of complications from the disease. "Here was someone who was compliant with his prescribed medications and Heather Prendergast treatment regimens, yet his disease continued to progress." But Prendergast needed guidance and a roadmap for creating a research program to achieve this personal and professional goal, with the ultimate aim of creating risk profiles for those most likely to develop the disease and designing intervention strategies targeting high-risk patients when they were still asymptomatic. She found both in the KL2 Scholars Program, a postdoctoral mentoring program designed to accelerate career progression in clinical and translational research. Sponsored by the college's Center for Clinical and Translational Research, the KL2 program pairs scholars with mentors who provide guidance in all aspects of clinical and translational research, from developing research projects and securing funding to assembling and managing a research team and working with interdisciplinary teams and centers. "Until I received this award, I underestimated the importance of great mentoring," reports Prendergast. "I now have clarity and direction and I am acquiring the research skills and guidance I need to take my research to the next level. Now I feel very confident that I will be able to achieve my goal of … reducing the overall incidence of the disease and improving outcomes in minority populations." 20 | s pr i n g 2 013 high school students, undergraduates, PhD students, medical students, psychiatry residents, assistant professors and BIRCWH Scholars in her roles as director of women's mental health research, director of the Neurocognitive Working Group of the Women's Interagency HIV Study and founder and director of the North American Menopause Society Mentorship Program. "I'm very interested in promoting women's health research and developing a more diverse workforce for women's health research," says Maki. "I'm excited to be a part of this faculty mentoring effort because what I love most about my career is launching new people. … If you institutionalize a mentoring program, excellence is more likely to become the norm, as opposed to the exception." Mentors can make a tremendous difference, say former BIRCWH Scholars like Leah H. Rubin, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry. "Drs. Maki and Geller have helped me to develop many of the requisite skills necessary for a career in academic medicine, such as how to write a grant to obtain research funding," she says. "They have also introduced me to networks of individuals in my research area, which has enabled me to develop collaborations both at UIC and outside of the institution." "As an ophthalmologist with a desire to do research in women's health, I had to bridge two fields," adds Thasarat S. Vajaranant, MD, an assistant professor in the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, who completed a BIRCWH fellowship in October 2012. "I had no formal research training, so these past three years of mentorship have made a world of difference. " Vajaranant also alludes to the more personal benefits of mentorship. "When I was in the BIRCWH program, four out of our group of five scholars were pregnant." She adds that she's grateful for her mentorship and the opportunity to balance her work and her family. Vajaranant expects that she and others who benefit from the program likely will pay it forward to the next generation of rising physicians. Sadia Haider, MD, MPH —an assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology and a current BIRCWH Scholar— came to Illinois Medicine specifically to be mentored. "One of my goals in coming here was to be successful as a clinical researcher," she explains. "Without mentorship from Dr. Geller, it would have been very difficult for me to achieve that goal. Mentoring was the critical piece that enabled me to pursue an academic career within clinical medicine as a tenure-track faculty member, and the BIRCWH program will continue to allow me to do so." If the mentorship committee members have their way, every faculty member at every level will have access to ample mentoring opportunities across disciplines. According to Gillian Coombs, the college's faculty affairs director, the changes are coming fast. "Every assistant professor will be matched with a mentor in early 2013," she states. "By fall 2013, we'll be launching a mentoring program for associate professors and, by fall 2014, we plan to have a mentoring program for full professors in place." "Our goal is 100 percent participation," states Erickson with conviction. "It's a big task, but we really believe in this program—and we are committed to making it work."

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