What makes a good mentor? What are the criteria for a mentor/mentee working relationship? Is it the number or similarity of their publications on their CVs? Is it the academic profile at the institution homepage? The answers probably vary depending on time, place, personalities and expertise. Read more about my most recent mentoring experience below.
October 15th, the AddictionHealth Services Research conference launched a new AHSR Mentor/Mentee Program. This program provided early career investigators an informal opportunity to connect with senior researchers/faculty/administrators. Through this program, the early career researchers had an opportunity to establish connections, gather feedback on their research goals, or ask questions pertinent to their work. All AHSR presenters and registered attendees were welcome to participate.
All of the mentors had substantial expertise. Some have been working on integrating addiction treatment with primary care and medical care since the mid-1990s. Others worked with large data sets and traditional claims and utilization analysis. Others analyzed the quality and quantity of addiction treatment services for veterans. There were experts on person centered care, the criminal justice system and treatment for incarcerated individuals, and on organizational change.
The goals of the program were to connect senior researchers with new/young researchers to improve dialogue in the field, foster open relationships (with the potential for future work projects), and share knowledge. The program participants:
- read the circulated list of Mentors (with links to additional information on their research).
- nominated their top three Mentor selections to ensure a reasonable number of requests across Mentors.
- received a reply with the Mentor contact information to setup a meeting time.
A Mentor/Mentee Meeting Room at the conference was available throughout the event. No booking was required.
The program gave me valuable time with an expert, a research leader, who would otherwise be unavailable to talk and advice. During this time, we came up with a mission statement and a plan for the transition to my new fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Canada. The plan is to use the mission statement for contacts with people whose work I admire, or would like to work with. Informational interviews with these people will help me orientate in the new environment and move my career forward.
I’m a psychologist who’s trained in science and is interested in improving addiction health services through practical implementation research. I’m a scientist interested in communicating with the public, arts and blending the scientist-artist career. In this Canadian fellowship, I’m studying ways of how to integrate addiction medicine education into the training for medical doctors.
The Addiction Health Services Research Conference (AHSR) is an annual meeting which embraces the challenge, celebrates success, and leads the way toward more effective implementation science. Text taken from: http://www.ahsr2013.com/about.php