“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.” – Benjamin Disraeli

The USCAP Mentoring Program

Mentoring is a fundamental human relationship in which one person invests time, energy, and expertise to nurture the growth of another. Mentors vary greatly in style, yet each contributes significantly to the professional and personal growth of a junior colleague through his wisdom, knowledge, and expertise.

Mentoring has been an intuitive core value of USCAP for years, but the process had not been previously formalized as structured relationships between mentors and mentees. The immeasurable mutual benefits of a mentoring relationship culminate in creating a better pathologist. The USCAP Mentoring Academy is the vehicle by which to partner with someone who will make a difference in your life.

The USCAP Mentoring Academy, inaugurated at the 2018 Annual Meeting as a one year pilot program, united 27 dyads (mentors and mentees) to explore how their relationship could be defined by goal setting and behavioral guidelines, managed through a web-based program designed to cultivate mentoring relationships (Chronus; mentoring.uscap.org), and accomplished utilizing metrics and timelines for achievement of goals. The Champions for this initiative were Drs. Sharon Weiss and David B. Kaminsky. Deborah Waterhouse (deborah@uscap.org) is the managing coordinator of the program.

At the conclusion of the pilot year, the program was evaluated in collaboration with Chronus staff to determine the efficacy of the web platform and its facilitation of the mentoring relationships of the initial dyads.

Mentor survey results indicated that 73.33% of mentors agreed they were satisfied with program experience; 86.67% of mentors agreed they helped their mentee achieve their goals; 86.67% of mentors were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of their match. From the mentees’ perspective, their survey results reflected that 100% of mentees strongly agreed their mentor helped them achieve their goals; 100% agreed they were satisfied with the program experience and 100% were very satisfied with the quality of their match.

The participants convened at the 2019 Annual Meeting to discuss their relationships, provide consultative input into program refinement, and share their experiences and accomplishments.

Based on positive outcomes of the pilot, the USCAP Mentoring Academy is available as of July 8, 2019 to interested practicing pathologists, residents and fellows. An additional 50 dyads will be assimilated into the mentoring program over the next eight months.

Mentor Handbook

Mentee Handbook

Pilot Series Mentors/Mentees

Daniel A. Arber, MD / Kunwar Sigh, MD

Pedram Argani, MD / Esther Cheng, DO

Sylvia L. Asa, MD, PhD / Meredith Pittman, MD

Marie-Christine Aubry, MD / Ezra Baraban, MD

Zubair Baloch, MD, PhD / Raza Syed Hoda, MD

Steven D. Billings, MD / Margaret Cocks, MD, PhD

Julia Bridge, MD / Yaolin Zhou, MD

Edi Brogi, MD / Esther Yoon, MD

Amy Chadburn, MD / Genevieve M. Crane, MD, PhD

Christopher Crum, MD / Basile Tessier-Cloutier, MD

William C. Faquin, MD, PhD / Xiaoyin “Sara” Jiang, MD

Christopher D. M. Fletcher, MD, FRCPath / Dinesh Pradhan, MD, MBBS

Wendy Frankel, MD / Nicole Riddle, MD

Thomas Giordano, MD, PhD / Juan C. Hernandez-Prera, MD

Michelle S. Hirsch, MD, PhD / Francesca Khani, MD

Jason L. Hornick, MD, PhD / Jessica L. Davis, MD

Peter A. Humphrey, MD, PhD / Steven Smith, MD

David B. Kaminsky, MD, FIAC / Kabeer K. Shah, DO

Laura W. Lamps, M.D. / Elizabeth Thompson, MD, PhD

Alexandar Lazar, MD / Elizabeth McKinnon, MD

Ritu Nayar, MD / Emilio Madrigal, DO

Marisa R. Nucci, MD / Brooke Howitt, MD

Esther Oliva, MD / Carlos Parra-Herran, MD

Anil Parwani, MD, PhD, MBA / Philip Raess, MD, PhD

Suzanne Z. Powell, M.D. / Jose Velazquez Vega, MD

Melinda E. Sanders, MD / Gregory R. Bean, MD, PhD

Sharon W. Weiss, MD / Amir Ghorbani, MD

Testimonials from Pilot Program

Dr. Aubry has been extremely helpful during our conversations in helping me to reflect on key issues in my own professional development and with setting goals.

Ezra Baraban, MD

Professor Weiss teaches me a lot by sending cases to review. It helps me to be prepared for the fellowship and to find the best way to practice in real life. This experience was amazing and beyond my expectations before joining the academy. THANK YOU!

Amir Ghorbani, MD

This mentoring program has been fantastic from my perspective. My mentor and I were proactive about establishing expectations for regular communication, which was one of the goals we’ve achieved. In addition, we’ve met some of our goals, worked on a project that wasn’t initially within our formal goals and are well on our way to completing our final goal. This program has been a great way to facilitate working together with one of the pathologists I’ve always admired as a leader in the field, and we’re planning to continue our collaborations in the future.

The USCAP Mentoring Academy has provided me with the unique opportunity to have direct guidance from a world renowned cytopathologist who shares similar interests with me. Without the USCAP Mentoring Academy it would have been more challenging to gain the type of insight I have acquired.

I really enjoy my interactions with Julie Bridge. She is wonderful and supportive.

Yaolin Zhou, MD

Dr. Arber has provided the guidance and resources needed for me to start my career on the right foot and to have a long lasting successful career. He has been available whenever I had a question or request. He is a wonderful mentor and extremely supportive of career choices.

Kunwar Singh, MD

Having Dr. Frankel’s experience and expertise has been very helpful and enlightening. So grateful for the opportunity to meet and get to know, let alone learn from, such an amazing person.

Nicole Riddle, MD

This has been an eventful and critical year for me in terms of my academic development as it has been my first year on faculty. The position turned out not to be as promised and to present several serious challenges toward my professional development. Dr. Chadburn helped me work through several of the issues to try to optimize my situation. This spring, I learned that her institution was still searching for a new faculty member to focus on hematopathology, lymphoma and research– and the ideal candidate for that position aligned very close to my interests and goals. In short, Weill Cornell will turn out to be an ideal place to build my career and I will have the opportunity to be more directly mentored by Dr. Chadburn! I will join her there on the faculty on July 1.

The mentoring academy has been an extraordinary and positive impact on my career development in the past year. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and those that have followed.

Genevieve M. Crane, MD, PhD

The mentorship program has provided me with academic and networking opportunities to which I would not have previously had access.