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iTHRIV Scholars Program:
Mentorship

ABOUT:

The iTHRIV Scholars Program is a multi-institutional career development program across multiple schools/departments focused on early career faculty and partially supported by the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) Clinical Translational Science Award (KL2TR003016 and UL1TR003015). Each Scholar has one or more Scientific Mentors identified in their application. This mentor/mentoring team plays an important role in the development of the research career for each Scholar.

Mentors may focus on ‘content,’ ‘process,’ or both helping the Scholars to establish and develop new technical and scientific skills, to navigate the challenges of setting up a new research team, and to identify critical steps for progressing in academia. During the first year of the iTHRIV Scholars Program, each Scholar is also assigned an ‘iTHRIV Mentor.’ This person is chosen to complement the existing Mentor/mentoring team and fulfill a specific need for the individual Scholar. This new mentor-mentee relationship is intended to allow the Scholar to move into a new scientific area, create connections to specific clinical populations, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, augment access to grant writing expertise, or gain access to new sponsorship opportunities among other opportunities.

The iTHRIV mentor may be drawn from outside the Scholar’s research area, school, and even institution. Each month the Scholars and their mentors come together with the iTHRIV Scholars Program leadership for a Mentoring Hour focused on issues around mentoring. Scholar-Mentor pairs frequently lead discussion on topics of their choosing. These sessions also focus on the fact that the Scholars, as emerging clinical translational researchers, are themselves both mentees and mentors to others. As the Scholars Program embarks on its fifth year, program alumni are returning in formal mentoring roles.

Meet a Mentor

Meet a Metor
Y. Michael Shim, MD

 

University of Virginia 

 

John L. Guerrant Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology

School of Medicine

Shim YM2.jpg

“Dr. Mike Shim is an exceptional mentor! He is a leader in the field of advanced imaging with hyperpolarized gas MRI and its application to the detection of pulmonary pathophysiology. He is always approachable, collaborative and pushed me to think critically about my research goals and methods. I can pinpoint much of my growth and development from a post-doctoral fellow to clinician scientist as the by-product of his steadfast mentorship. Countless times he has offered unique perspectives and ideas to re-frame my own questions in a way that improves my project and career development. Dr. Shim works tirelessly in the service of those around him. He is deeply committed to his mentees, meeting them where they are, and guiding them to their highest potential.”

 

Jamie MacLeod,MD, iTHRIV Scholar (2023-2025 Cohort)

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