Nov 16, 2018

MD/PhD Students Looking for Mentors

Students, Education
Alex Dhaliwal
By

Heidi Singer

For medical students interested in becoming clinician-scientists, the path forward is not always clear – but mentors can be enormously helpful. That’s why Faculty of Medicine students are hosting a symposium on the benefits of mentorship for those on this dual track.

Felipe Morgado

The symposium is in conjunction with the Clinician Investigator Program’s annual Scientific Meeting at Toronto’s Chestnut Conference Centre Nov. 19 and 20, which showcases trainee research areas and offers career workshops.

“The long training path of a clinician-scientist necessitates forging many mentor-mentee relationships as we pass through the various stages of our training and career,” says Felipe Morgado, a second-year MD/PhD student who is co-organizing the event. “We’re constantly seeking wisdom and advice on matters outside our curriculum.”

Forty MD/PhD students are planning to attend Monday’s symposium, themed “Mentorship is a Two-Way Street.” There will be keynotes from Nicola Jones, a professor of Paediatrics and Physiology, and director of the Clinician-Investigator Program, and ophthalmologist Brian Ballios, a recent MD/PhD graduate.

There will also be a speed mentoring session, where students can ask a variety of clinician-scientists about networking and career planning.

Morgado, who has worked extensively with children on the autism spectrum, is interested in the intersection between health and mental health. He hopes to explore neurostimulation as a treatment for autism.

“There’s many phases to clinician-scientist training,” he says. “You have the challenges of going to residency where you’ll be away from research for a while. Also setting up a lab. A lot of parts of the career don’t get discussed in the curriculum. We want to talk to as many people as possible and get a sense of how their paths went.”

Co-organizer Alex Dhaliwal, also in his second year of the MD-PhD program, studied physics, math and biochemistry during his undergraduate years. He is excited about nanomedicine, and using breakthroughs in physics to advance medical imaging.

Alex Dhaliwal

“The one thing clinician-scientists all seem to share is the passion for transcending boundaries and being able to communicate from different sides,” says Dhaliwal. “You have to carve out a niche where you can be that conduit.” Mentorship is crucial, he says: “Not a lot of people will be telling you that you’re necessarily doing the right thing because there are so many ways to get to where you’re going.”

Morgado and Dhaliwal say students are eager to find mentors, and that more clinician-scientists are always needed. To learn more about becoming a mentor, contact Karen Lee in the Faculty's Alumni Relations Office: Kare.lee@utoronto.ca.