The Medicine Mentors Podcast

Lidia Schapira, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Institute and Director of Stanford's Cancer Survivorship program. A nationally renowned expert in breast cancer, Dr. Schapira has pioneered workshops and helped develop innovative educational programs to improve the communication skills of cancer clinicians by building experienced and compassionate teams. She has been a champion of promoting patient activation and self-management at all phases of the cancer journey. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of cancer.net, and consultant editor for the Journal of Clinical Oncology. She also hosts JCO's Cancer Stories: The Art of Oncology podcast which features stories, dialogue, and personal reflections that explore the experience of living with cancer or caring for people with cancer. “We need to redefine what we mean by failure and success. Failure is not that the patient dies. Failure is that the patient dies abandoned, alone, or in pain. One can still die of an incurable illness, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we as the treating physicians have failed. If we can figure out how to treat an illness and support a person in a family, this is the best combination.” In this episode of The Medicine Mentors, Dr. Lidia Schapira offers an innovative perspective on success, teaches us how to find strength in the bleakest moments, and mentors us on how to outgrow conventional definitions of failure. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. The most important thing to look for within is what it is that tickles us, inspires us. Then trying to preserve at least some of our time to work on that to keep us engaged. 2. The Art of Oncology is finding the human side of the patients we care for. 3. I do this meditative hand-washing before I enter a room so I can be fully present and let them know I’m interested in them, not just the disease. 4. Have an open mind and be very curious, pursue answers in places that aren’t obvious. 5. I’ve learned over the years to sit with emotion and not be eager to fix or stop it. Support people by letting them express their emotions.

Daniel Laheru , MD, is the Professor of Oncology and Co-Director of Skip Viragh Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He holds the Ian MacMillian Professorship in Clinical Pancreatic Cancer Research. Dr. Laheru has developed a vaccine along with Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, that supercharges the immune system and causes immune cells, which tend to be tolerant of cancer, to seek out and kill pancreatic cancer cells throughout the body. He is a Member of the Miller-Coulson Academy of Clinical Excellence, Member of Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Associated Director of the Institute for Convergence Science. “There's no job that's insignificant here. Whatever you're doing, you need to do it to the best of your abilities.” A monumental lesson from Dr. Daniel Laheru’s parents taught him to notice the janitor who moves by silently in the corner, the nurse who works overtime without appreciation, and the security guard who passes a silent glance at every passerby. In this episode of The Medicine Mentors, Dr. Daniel Laheru explains recognizing the interconnected nature of every person’s role in the infrastructure of medicine, instilling gratitude in our practice, and paying it back by paying it forward. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Enjoy the time that you’re a student because you’ll wonder what you did with all your time after. The future is entirely open to you, the ceiling is what you make it. 2. I’m happy doing what I’m doing right now, and if I can do this five years from now, I’ll be ecstatic. 3. The fellows, residents, and medical students are the lifeblood of the institution and the next generation so don’t be shy about asking somebody if they have time to meet with you. 4. A good mentor is like a parent in the sense that they put your goals ahead of their own. My mentor really saw my future before I was able to understand it for myself. 5. The little things in the course of a day actually make a big difference. Thanking and appreciating someone goes a long way.

Timothy Gilligan, MD, is the Vice-Chair for Education and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. He also serves as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Graduate Medical Education at Cleveland Clinic. He is a nationally recognized expert in Genitourinary Cancers and a thought leader in healthcare communication. He is President of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare and is the co-editor of the book Communication the Cleveland Clinic Way. “Find people who have a track record of mentorship. There are plenty of smart people who are very successful but aren't great mentors.” According to Dr. Timothy Gilligan, being drawn to accolade holders is not the answer to our mentorship troubles. When he was still a young trainee, he recounts how his mentors sometimes enlightened him with direct answers and other times set him on the course to find them on his own, drawing a map and only acting as guides in his journey. In this episode of The Medicine Mentors, Dr. Timothy Gilligan teaches us to identify the significant predictors of mentors who will help us navigate medicine’s pathways. Tune in for more. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Humanizing medicine should be our priority, and we can do that by approaching medicine with humility, and by having a mindset of showing up and being present with the patient. 2. As mentees, we should focus on people with a proven track record of mentorship, someone who will draw a map for you and let you navigate the landscape of medicine. Once we find those people, all that remains is to reach out to them. 3. If we're not actively participating in the solution, then we are part of the problem, and the first step to finding that solution is to acknowledge the problem’s existence. 4. The essence of the art of communication is talking less and listening more, and the three questions that will help us achieve that are, “What does the patient need to know?”, “What does the patient already know?”, and, “What does the patient want to know?”

Diane Reidy-Lagunes, MD, is the Vice Chair of Oncology Operations, Regional Cancer Network at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In the past, she has served as the President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Medical Staff. Dr. Reidy-Lagunes’ primary focus is treating gastrointestinal cancers and developing methods to integrate molecular-based therapies into the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, as well as designing and conducting clinical trials to better treatment strategies for patients with this uncommon cancer type. At a national level, she is a member of the National Cancer Institute neuroendocrine tumor task force and the Neuroendocrine Tumor Biospecimen Consortium. She is also the Creator and Host of Cancer Straight Talk Podcast which brings together national experts and patients with cancer to have straightforward, evidence-based conversations. "I was caring for an amazing woman who understood her sickness, but her husband was upset. She often asked him to leave the room when she spoke with the medical team. She ultimately opted for hospice and passed away after three months. Her husband called and said that I killed his wife. I didn't hear anything for a few months, and then, one Saturday morning, a floor head nurse calls and says, ‘Dr. Reidy, there's a protest outside and they have your picture on the poster.' I wanted to die...I couldn't get over that this was happening. I immediately called my mentor Dr. Lenny Saltz....” Join us for this special episode with oncologist and host of the Cancer Straight Talk Podcast Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes as she shares the impact mentors can have, not only professionally, but in dealing with major life crises. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Let passion lead your innovation. Anybody can have a smart idea, but actually executing on the plan and following up takes passion. Passion takes commitment so it’s important to ask yourself if you’re happy with where you’re at in life and where you’ll be in 5-10 years. 2. Innovation is not just coming up with a new plan for something, it takes building and testing. If you’re told that your idea won’t work but you believe in it, try it out and see if the final product doesn’t change minds. 3. Sometimes we can think of teamwork as the opposite of leadership, but true teamwork and true leadership both have the same thing in common; groups of people working together toward a singular goal. Good leadership and good teamwork come from setting good examples for each other. 4. In your career as a physician, you’ll make mistakes or be blamed for things out of your control. It’s important in these moments to have people you can call for clarity, but also to know that mistakes are portals to discovery and action.

Rachna Shroff, MD, is the Chief of the division of Hematology/Oncology and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She is a clinical and translational investigator focused on developing novel targeted therapies and immunotherapies for pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers and has led multiple clinical trials including the first randomized phase 3 trial in biliary cancers in the US. An internationally recognized expert, she is one of three women to achieve the prestigious 2022 Women in Oncology Award. “You have to understand your why and then let that drive you… be open-minded and try all kinds of different activities and opportunities. It’s a little bit of throwing darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks, and then going with your gut. Ask yourself, ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’ Once you understand your legacy, you can create metrics for [your] success." In this episode of The Medicine Mentors, we discuss discovering our why and creating a long-lasting legacy with Dr. Rachna Shroff. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’ is a different question than ‘What is your why?’ Once we understand what we want our legacy to be, we can start creating the metrics for success. 2. It’s essential to have the right people on board and maintain that network of mentors. One of the secrets to maintaining this network is to stay connected with them and keep them updated with what's going on in our lives. 3. If we can first learn how to take good care of patients, we’ll identify the needs because the paramount questions come from the clinic. It will take a while, but our persistence, diligence, hard work, and patience will pay off.

Elizabeth Jaffee, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology and pancreatic cancer. She is the Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Co-director of the Skip Viragh Center for Pancreatic Cancer and Associate Director of the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Her research focuses on developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Jaffee is a past president of AACR. She has served on a number of committees at the National Cancer Institute including the Co-chair of the Biden Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel which identified high research priorities for the NCI. “You can be an amazing scientist, but what's most important is that whatever you do in science has implications for the patient.” From being inspired by Dr. Marie Curie’s biography as a child to now becoming one of the leading names in pancreatic cancer research internationally, Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee helps us re-focus on the patient and our role as ‘physician’ scientists. Tune in to this episode of The Medicine Mentors as we journey with Dr. Jaffee to connect the science with the patient. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Regardless of the direction we take in our professional journey, we have to keep the implications of our actions and research focused on our patients and how we can help them. 2. While leadership is a forefront activity and mentorship an educational activity, both can be thought of as similar in that you’re helping someone become the best version of themselves. That means taking into account each individual’s strengths and weaknesses and tailoring that to the intended outcome. 3. Don’t have just one mentor. It’s futile hoping that one person can teach you everything you’ll need to know. Find a network of individuals that can help you, which starts by putting yourself out there as someone who wants to do more and wants help.

Robert Mayer, MD, is the Faculty Vice President for Academic Affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Stephen B. Kay Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he serves as the Faculty Associate Dean for Admissions. He directed the Dana Farber’s Medical Oncology Fellowship Program for over thirty years, overseeing the training of several hundred oncologists and established the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Mayer is a past president of American Society of Clinical Oncology and has been a recipient of numerous awards including ASCO’s Distinguished Achievement Award and the prestigious Giants of Cancer Care award. “Medicine is complicated now, [but] it's still the basic principle of people caring for people, trying to do good and making their lives better. I always tell people, ‘Put your feet in the water and see what there might be.’ Try different things; don't think you know the answer before you really have a chance to see what all the opportunities are. When people give you a chance, take an interest in you, advise you, or guide you, say yes, listen, and go for it. Those are opportunities that are very special.” Having been provided rare opportunities by his mentors, Dr. Robert Mayer now does the same for his mentees. Tune into this episode of The Medicine Mentors to learn more. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Availability is the key value of implementing a patient-first attitude because we have less time to get to know the patient and yet still have a responsibility to build the same level of comfort for their care. 2. Instead of looking for success in accolades and accomplishments, true success for physicians is knowing your patients and treating them over time. Caring for someone and keeping them priority means being a successful physician. 3. If somebody takes a chance on us, the least we can do is put our foot in the water and say yes, because those are opportunities that are very special.

Charles W. Sorenson, MD, is the President and CEO Emeritus of Intermountain Healthcare and the Founding Director of the Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute. Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 33 hospitals (including virtual hospitals), a Medical Group with more than 3,800 physicians and advanced practice clinicians at about 385 clinics. Prior to that, he served for eleven years as Intermountain’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Currently he serves as an Executive Coach at MEDI, the largest executive coaching firm in the nation dedicated exclusively to the healthcare industry. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah. He has been noted amongst 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare. “Be capable, be affable, and be available. You've got to first become a very capable physician, and just going to medical school or even doing residency doesn't do it. So, do your best to become a doctor's doctor.” Dr. Charles Sorenson, the Founding Director of Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute, has been at the forefront of medicine’s leadership for decades now. Join us in this episode of The Medicine Mentors as Dr. Charles Sorenson shares his transformation from being a surgeon to becoming an influential healthcare leader, the elements needed for tomorrow’s physician leader, and how to be a force of trust in healthcare. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Try to employ a ‘success without side effects’ mentality, where putting the interests of your patients before your own becomes the point of success and not whatever outcome you expected. 2. A professional is one who is cognisant of how they affect a team or a patient. The patient’s best interest is also a professional’s best interest. 3. A leader doesn’t always need a professional title or role. Learn to lead in the role you have now. In other words, learn to harness the referent power you have everyday to influence and change things for the better. Improve upon your character and competence follows. 4. Leadership means being affable, available, and capable. Being affable means having the humility to recognize your own limitations and knowing when to seek out advice or help. Being available means saying yes to opportunities and being open to risk. Being capable means to not only be a competent physician but learning to be a ‘doctor’s doctor.’

Konstantinos Arnaoutakis, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine In the Division of Hematology and Oncology. He also serves as the Program Director of Hematology Oncology fellowship at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His primary research interests are lung cancer and novel therapies. He is the Coordinator of the Thoracic Malignancy disease-oriented committee (DOC). “They say it takes two to tango.” Recognizing the value of the mentoring relationship means understanding both sides have their own perspective. Join us in a discussion on the Medicine Mentors with Dr. Konstantinos Arnaoutakis and his mentee, Dr. Arya Mariam Roy, as we dive into the specifics of mentorship from both sides of the coin. Tune in as we chat about how important it is for mentees to initiate mentorship and how a mentor can help their pupils in more than one way, as Dr. Arnaoutakis says, “successful physicians never became successful on their own.” Pearls of Wisdom: 1. A self-made man is a flawed concept based in ignorance. Just so, successful physicians never become successful without a mentor. 2. A mentor wears many hats. They should be invested in your professional as well as your personal development. In such a long-standing relationship, they should invest time into the work you’ve put in as well as giving honest feedback. 3. The mentee should take the first step into the mentoring relationship and be able to follow through with expectations of working hard, being trustworthy, and caring. 4. Trustworthiness comes from caring well for your patients, for yourself, and for the community in general. Don’t worry about your capability, as long as you’re hardworking, honest, and care, capability will come along with that.

Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, is the Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is an internationally renowned medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Janjigian runs clinical and translational studies designed to develop better prevention, early diagnosis, staging and treatment strategies for patients with esophageal and stomach cancer. She is a recipient of numerous awards and was recently inducted as a member of American Society of Clinical Investigation. “Oftentimes, fellows will present every detail of how the patient presented, the quality of their dysphagia, what they could eat and not eat for a patient with known biopsy positive gastric cancer and skim over the fact that the patient lives three hours away and can’t participate in a clinical trial or that they are scared to death of having a port placed because they recently had a love one die of cancer who had a port. It's an understanding of barriers, fears, and social background that ultimately guides treatment. As a trainee, learn to get the patient to tell you things that are not in the chart.” Join us on an inspiring journey from Azerbaijan to New York with Dr. Yelena Janjigian, the Chief of GI Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. We should be closers: People who can who can start and finish a project, bring something to fruition and close on it before progressing to the next stage. 2. The ability to get patients to talk about what’s not in the charts by breaking down barriers will create a sure-fire marker of greatness in a physician. 3. In the world of medicine, leadership is not about dictating or directing, it’s more about serving and supporting the people under us and around us.

Tyler Johnson, MD, is a physician, author, educator, and humanitarian. He is a medical oncologist at Stanford University. He leads Stanford’s inpatient oncology services, and is one of the principal faculty members of the Stanford Educators-4-CARE program. Dr. Johnson is an author with a growing reputation for insightful analysis of the intersection of medicine, ethics, and spirituality; his writings have been featured by Religion News Service, the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU Studies, Dialogue, and The San Jose Mercury News. Dr. Johnson co-hosts "The Doctor's Art," the world's leading podcast dedicated to the examination of humanism in medicine. “There is an element to [being a physician] that you just can’t find good words to describe other than things like spiritual and sacred.” While some have trouble finding the right words for it, Dr. Tyler Johnson provides us with a great one - ineffable. Tune in to an enlightening discussion with author, educator, host of ‘The Doctor’s Art’, and medical oncologist at Stanford University, Dr. Johnson, as we explore the ineffable side of medicine that drives us. Join us as we tap into the spiritual side of medicine, find out why kneeling and being eye-level to a patient can “puncture the aura of arrogance,” and why “we have to hold a space for mystery within medicine” to keep our passion from extinguishing. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Treat rigorously but care tenderly. In order to care we must relate, and a quick way to puncture the aura of arrogance typified with a doctor is to kneel at a patient’s bedside, or at least be eye level. Seeing someone eye to eye communicates a message that says I’m here to serve you. 2. On the path to achieving great heights, don’t forget to remember the permanent things like relationships and the journey that sustain you. Your promotion or job will not love you back. 3. It doesn’t have to be a church or an organization but lend yourself to a group that holds you accountable to a higher power or standard than yourself. Connect with something bigger than yourself that makes you reflect upon your actions in ways you don’t already.

Marcel van den Brink, MD, is the Head and Alan N. Houghton Chair of the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is internationally renowned for his work in the field of bone marrow transplantation, the gut microbiome, and immunotherapy. He is also the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Chairman of the Board of DKMS, an international nonprofit organization devoted to bone marrow donor registration. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and he has been elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for his contributions in the field of hematologic malignancies. “Finding solutions is often as simple as shutting up and listening to what people formulate as the problem and what they have thought of as the answer. Without fail, I’m surprised that they’ve got something better than I could have come up with.” Join us in this episode of The Medicine Mentors where Chairman of Heme Malignancies at MSKCC, Dr. Marcel van den Brink, shares tips of effective leadership. Tune in as we learn about the five-minute ‘no talking, only listening’ rule at the start of meetings and why the best leaders find comfort in not knowing everything. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. We will be leaders before we know it, and the simple formula of leadership is listening. When we conduct meetings, all we have to do is be quiet for the first five minutes and listen. 2. To know when we are ready to move on to the next stage, the next level, we have to know what we don’t know, that is, do we know how to prioritize what matters, and if not, are we ready to seek help for it? 3. Failure and success often follow a 9:1 ratio, and so, to increase our chances of success, we should try our hands in different endeavors to see where we can truly shine. 4. Just like listening is the pathway to leadership, respect is the pathway to teamwork, and we should be mindful of it in our day-to-day interactions.

Saby George, MD, FACP, is a Professor of Oncology and Medicine within the Department of Medicine and Director of Network Clinical Trials at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a prominent clinical investigator in the kidney cancer space. Dr George is passionate about teaching and mentoring and is a champion advocate for his fellows. “I was lucky enough to work with some great mentors and envisioned a career I’d like.” Illustrating the power of mentorship, we sit down with Dr. Saby George in a discussion on mentorship, best practices for researchers, and why it’s important for mentors to be unselfish and encourage independence. Join us on another empowering episode of the Medicine Mentors, as we dive into the fine print of mentorship from a master researcher and lauded mentor. Tune in as Dr. George shares with us the mentors that helped guide him to the position he’s in now, how he actively champions mentees by offering independent opportunities, and how the best piece of advice he got was simply to be more patient. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. When looking for success in medicine, you must look at the legacy you’re leaving behind. Mentorship helps us create an environment that continuously strives to push the field forward and leave behind a track-record of improving. 2. A few things to keep in mind when looking for mentors are: competing interests between a mentor and mentee should be avoided, and entering the relationship with honesty and truthfulness will prove to provide a strong relationship. 3. When identifying the traits of a great mentor, you should be able to see that your mentor is invested in seeing you succeed, is unselfish, and able to give honest feedback along with reasonable goals and expectations. 4. While it can be comfortable to work under the supervision of a mentor, a good mentee should seek out opportunities for growth and independence. Your mentor should provide you with roles and opportunities that help you feel comfortable in your skin. 5. A small but often overlooked detail for clinical and basic science researchers is to make sure you’re setting realistic timelines and following through. Especially for conferences or studies, be sure to follow through and stay persistent.

Enrico Novelli MD, is a classical (benign) hematologist, the Section Chief of the Benign Hematology, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is the Medical Director of the UPMC Adult Sickle Cell Disease Program. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Milan, Italy in 1996. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where he developed expertise in cellular biology and gene therapy. Subsequently, he pursued his residency and fellowship at UPMC, where he joined as faculty after graduating. He has numerous publications about vascular dysfunction in sickle cell disease and serves as a scientific reviewer for many journals, the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. “It’s an important component of mentoring; things you may not necessarily teach formally but that you can communicate through nonverbal behavior.” Illustrating the importance of learning “beyond our horizons” through mentors who showed him lessons outside of the classroom, Dr. Enrico Novelli joins us in another episode of The Medicine Mentors. Tune in as we learn about his journey from Italy to the States and how he continues to lead by showing “optimism, excitement, and faith” in every mentoring opportunity. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. It’s easy to feel stuck in a situation but with new experiences come new perspectives, be sure to broaden your horizons and seek new challenges on your journey. 2. A good mentoring relationship requires a fine balance of two energies. A mentor should inspire passion and curiosity while remaining on the sidelines, and a mentee must be receptive to feedback and be coachable in order to grow. 3. It’s important to ask yourself sooner rather than later what your long-term career goals are. Finding a niche can require some experimentation, especially in academia. No matter the direction, success requires a plan.

Natasha Chida, MD, MSPH, is the Myron L. Weisfeldt Professor of Medicine, Director of the Osler Medical Residency Program and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Chida earned her MD and MPH from University of Miami where she stayed on to complete her internal medicine residency prior to coming to Hopkins to pursue a fellowship in Infectious Diseases. A passionate clinician educator, Dr. Chida has served on many national education committees for the ACGME and Infectious Diseases Society of America. She is passionate about career development for physicians-in-training, the advancement of women in medicine, and how to best train residents and fellows in HIV care. “Being intentional around what you want to accomplish is helpful because it prevents you from spinning off into something that you don’t really care about or want to do.” Today we learn the art of building our mission statement and the science of staying true to it with Dr. Natasha Chida, Director of Osler Residency Program at Johns Hopkins. Tune in as Dr. Chida shares tips on identifying our true north, utilizing the village of mentors around us, and most importantly growing with intention to get the most out of our training years. Ultimately “if you know what your mission is and if you feel like you’re fulfilling it, that to me is success.” Pearls of Wisdom: 1. In order to make the right decisions you need to know your mission. Whether that’s been instilled in you since childhood or comes through new inspirations, balance is all about clarifying your mission. 2. When figuring out what your mission is, look back at your best and worst days. Piece out what happened in both that made them good or bad. Seek out the activities that bring you joy and be sure to re-evaluate when necessary. 3. In order to make the most out of any mentoring relationship, you must be intentional. Yes, they want to help you but you need to be able to define what you’re looking to achieve and proactively monitor that as they help you on the journey.

Margaret Tempero, MD, is an internationally renowned expert in pancreatic cancer, a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Pancreas Center at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. She organized the first Pancreas Cancer Think Tank in 1999 and chairs The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's (PanCAN) Scientific and Medical Advisory Board. She was recently inducted into the prestigious Giants of Cancer Care. A thought leader in cancer, she is a former president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and American Pancreatic Association and currently serves on the ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Board. She also serves as the Editor of Chief of Journal of National Comprehensive Cancer Network. “I remember asking a mentor of mine, ‘What does success mean?’” In her mind, Dr. Margaret Tempero expected an obvious answer: Some prestigious designation, a decorated award, maybe some groundbreaking research to her name; but when Dr. Ann Kessinger responded with the most fundamental truth of medicine, it revolutionized her medical philosophy to its core: “You're successful when you're improving the lives of your patients, plain and simple.” Join us for another episode of The Medicine Mentors as Dr. Margaret Tempero shares the true definition of success in medicine, teaches us how to improve the lives of our patients, and emphasizes getting to know the patient as a person before we know them by their disease. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Success in medicine is found when you’re improving the lives of your patients. Regardless of how you do it, the patient must be the first and center focus. 2. Get to know your patient as a person before you know them as a disease. It’s as simple as asking them to tell you about themselves. Know the patient so you can help cater your discussion to a field that they understand. 3. Mentorship can be thought of like tennis; a bidirectional process where if your opponent is better, you do better. Mentees have to bring the full initiative to the mentor so they can play back.

Supriya Gupta Mohile, MD, MS, is the Philip and Marilyn Wehrheim Professor in hematology/oncology and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control research program at Wilmot Cancer Institute. She also serves as the Vice-Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester. She leads the Cancer Care Delivery Research (CCDR) efforts in the Research Base and sits on the CCDR Steering Committee at the NCI. Dr. Mohile is internationally renowned for advancing the field of geriatric oncology. To conduct a successful mentorship relationship, “We have to manage conflict and expectations,” says Dr. Supriya Gupta Mohile. She draws an intriguing contrast between mini-conflicts that are nothing more than minor peeves and major conflicts, which, if not addressed, can lead to irreparable rifts between us and our mentors. Tune in to another episode of The Medicine Mentors as we discuss the underpinnings of patient communication, managing conflicts within our mentorship relationships, and how to set clear expectations and follow up on our commitments. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. If we're not having thoughtful engagement with patients and families, and we're just kind of going from one thing to the next and we're not making those emotional connections, we as clinicians will burn out. 2. Mentorship is a partnership; it's being a teacher; and so, as a teacher, they have to understand what the mentee needs. And it's not for the mentee to be them, it's for them to understand what the mentee wants with their goals and to help them get to those goals. 3. Conflict in our mentorship relationships should be managed using open communication and setting clear expectations, and then following up on it.

Annie Im, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She is also the Program Director for Hematology & Oncology Fellowship program. Her research is focused in hematologic malignancies, drug development, stem cell transplantation, and graft-versus-host-disease. She received her medical degree from Stony Brook School of Medicine in New York, and then completed both her residency in internal medicine and her hematology/oncology fellowship from UPMC. “I think the most impressive thing is when a physician can make you feel like you’re the most important person in that moment.” Encouraging us to go the extra mile for patients by being present, Dr. Annie Im joins us in this episode of the Medicine Mentors as we discuss the fine details of empowering patients by giving them our full presence. Tune in as Dr. Im spreads the message of staying present for all parts of our lives, reminding us that we won’t escape the rush hour busyness of physician life but that by being present we can learn to find a balance that works for any given moment. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Even though you might be busy in your day, your patients will remember you as you are in the time that you meet with them. So be sure to stay focused and present so they can feel like they’re the most important person to you at that moment. 2. When finding a work-life balance, think of it like rush hour traffic. Sometimes it will be easy to balance things and move with ease, but it’s important to know that there will be times in your career when work or your personal life will take precedence and need more attention. The key is to find balance in all of those phases. 3. Whether it’s research, personal life, or career trajectory, mentors don’t all come with the same expertise so be sure to find a variety of mentors that can help you in each part of your life. 4. The onus is on the mentee to reach out to a mentor so when looking out for hiccups in the relationship, stay empathetic and realize that a mentor will have their own business and may not tend to every need. Long lasting relationships require work but pay off in the long run. 5. Successful people are those that find their drive through passion. Seeing that extra patient and going the extra mile isn’t just about dedication but also passion. When working passionately, things like burnout and work-life balance become easy.

Robert Brodsky, MD, is a world-renowned hematologist and the current Director of the Division of Hematology, as well as Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He focuses on bone marrow failure states, specifically the use of bone marrow transplants in sickle cell disease and aplastic anemia. His lab studies complement mediated disorders and he has also developed the diagnostic assay that is used to diagnose PNH around the world. Dr. Brodsky is a recipient of numerous national awards and was recently elected as the President of the American Society of Hematology, the largest professional society of hematologists in the world. “I remember driving down 83. I just couldn't wait to get into work…that excitement, that flutter in your heart, that's what defines success for me.” A sentiment passed down through now three generations of hematologists, Dr. Robert Brodsky, Director of the Division of Hematology at Johns Hopkins and President of the American Society of Hematology, joins us for a grounding conversation. Tune in as we dive into the leaders that showed him what it truly means to love your job, how asking the right research questions is the biggest predictor of success, and why it takes decades to build a career that’s worth having. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Work-life balance is not every day. That is a critical distinction to understand, that overall, our lives should be balanced, but it's not an expectation we should come to work with every day. We should try to achieve the work-life balance globally, but not in a day-to-day, hour-to-hour fashion. 2. What is one of the biggest predictors of success? We connect it to the purpose behind the project: the Research Question. That's going to start the journey and create the flutter for us to come to work and pursue something that's actually going to have a meaningful change. 3. Life is likely to get more complicated as we move forward. The difficulty levels keep going up as we go to the next level, and therefore, if there's not a strong force driving us, we should not get to the next level just for the sake of getting there. It should be to reach an ultimate goal.

Amy Jones, MD, is the Program Director of Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She also serves as the Medical Director of the Inpatient Hematology-Oncology Unit for the Parkland Health & Hospital System. She is a founding Co-Chair of the Parkland Cancer Improvement Committee and a recipient of the Niarchos Grant for Quality Improvement through ASCO. She serves on the Cancer in People with HIV/Kaposi Sarcoma Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Dr. Jones has delivered a number of invited lectures and published numerous academic articles, and she serves as a course director for medical education at the fellowship and medical student levels. “You can be a mom and hang out with your kids, have a husband who loves smoking meat, and still be a complete boss at work.” Between brisket and directing the Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern, Dr. Amy Jones teaches us a thing or two about keeping our hearts and minds full. Join us in this motivating episode with Dr. Jones, as she takes us through her earliest inspirations and how they’ve instilled in her a sense of service while making sure she has time to fill her own cup. Tune in as we talk about recharging our batteries and leaning on mentors, learning how to take charge as a mentee keeping your torch lit, and why it’s crucial to be able to tell your story. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. A good mentee is one that is honest about what they want and can take their goals across the finish line. Drive the relationship even when it’s uncomfortable because that’s what it takes for success. 2. When looking to the future, ask yourself what you dream of in a job and what your day-to-day life might look like. Write a letter that starts with who you are and what you’ve done, ending with where you’re going and how you’ll get there. 3. Balance is key for a long career. Because you have an ability to give back you also have the responsibility to serve, but in order to serve you have to be able to care for yourself, too.