Letter from the BWPO Chairman
Dear Colleagues:
At BWH, we are fortunate to attract exceptional residents, fellows and junior faculty to join our ranks. They come here to learn from and train with the best and the brightest on their way to bigger and better things. Many of them are looking for more than our technical expertise, they are seeking mentorship from our senior faculty.
Some of them are not too shy to seek out that added guidance, advice or mentoring, and Dr. Audra Robertson, is a perfect example. She came here in 2003 to train in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and she met faculty members and other hospital leaders through networking events. Audra set out to make difference in health care disparities, and she gravitated to the people at BWH who are making such a difference in that area through their research and policy work.
As a resident, she was drawn to the compassion of Dr. Nawal Nour, who recommended Audra pursue an MPH through a fellowship at Harvard School of Public Health. Audra also connected with Drs. Selwyn Rogers and Leroi Hicks at BWH and Joan Reede at HMS around research and policy issues, and she sought out advice and support from Wanda McClain, executive director of the Center for Community Health and Health Equity. Each mentor has provided Audra with guidance, counsel and perspective, whether through a meeting scheduled weeks ahead of time or a quick cell phone call, and her work on disparities in infant mortality has excelled as a result of it.
The Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (CFDD) has started a new program to support senior faculty mentors to enhance their mentoring relationships. Drs. Ellen Seely and Jonathan Borus are facilitating the new Faculty Mentoring Leadership Program. This program was developed after many faculty members, through a CFDD survey, identified the need for training in effective mentoring. The program has had several sessions with 16 faculty members, each of whom may facilitate future sessions to broaden the impact of the program across all our faculty.
Mentoring and being mentored provides wonderful rewards to both parties. Clearly, Audra has been able to draw on the experiences and acquired wisdom of several mentors, and now she is mentoring a medical student and two residents. She is helping them on their way to bigger and better things.
Sincerely,
Robert Barbieri, MD
Chairman, BWPO