Before I began working at Children’s National in Washington DC in 2017, I was at Michigan State University (MSU). Michigan State is where I transitioned from a full-time pediatric neurologist into a researcher in global health. MSU, like most places of employment, had its ups and downs, but more ups than downs. One especially enjoyable aspect of my job was teaching a semester long course in Clinical Tropical Medicine. I co-taught with Terrie Taylor, equally dividing the course responsibilities. I enjoyed the MSU medical students, who took this elective course as a prerequisite for coming to Malawi in their final year. They were enthusiastic, intellectually curious, and grateful for their new knowledge.
When I decided to leave MSU, I interviewed at academic institutions around the USA. On my resumé and during interviews, I highlighted my teaching experience and desire to continue it in my new position. No one bit and one Ivy League university was dismissive. The solution? Even though I started a new professional life in Washington DC, I continued teaching at MSU on a volunteer basis, either by flying back to East Lansing or (more recently) by Zoom. It puzzles me that many US medical schools have no interest in augmenting their curriculum, but perhaps this derives from too many competing interests. Medical school is a busy time and if one adds tropical medicine, one likely must subtract something else. Gaining knowledge to work outside of the USA doesn’t appear to be a priority for most.
Even though my new employer hasn’t embraced my teaching a semester-long course, I have had some smaller teaching victories doing presentations at George Washington University (GWU). I enjoy sharing my knowledge, trying to arouse intellectual curiosity in my audience. My teaching hasn’t taken off, but I have hope that someday I can implement something bigger and more interesting for students at GWU.
If I impart knowledge and enthusiasm, will my students follow in my footsteps?
In contrast to my limited teaching success in my current job, my mentoring of those junior to me has taken off. Though I’ve mentored several students, residents, and other faculty members since my move to Washington DC, the most intense experience thus far was with Geoff Guenther.
Geoff first contacted me a year and a half ago. He was a former Peace Corps volunteer, had decided that he wanted to work in Global Health, and was looking for a one month academic experience in Africa. He was applying for a Children’s National research training program called REACH and wondered if I would be his mentor. Together we completed the REACH application and designed an interesting research project. The project was important, and we hoped he could finish 20% of it in a 4-week trip to Malawi. We arrived in Blantyre, came to the hospital on the first day, and were delighted to find that a huge amount of the work we thought Geoff would need to do himself had already been completed. It looked like he might be able to complete his planned project in 4 weeks.
To finish, though, he worked very hard. Fortunately, even though he was working hard Monday-Friday, he could participate in weekend activities in the mountains and nearby game parks. It was a win for everyone.
After returning to the USA, we realized Geoff had gathered enough analyzable data to publish two manuscripts. For those not aware, this is very unusual. In my research, I may work on a project for years to produce a single publication. Geoff had doubled that output in a month. To top it all off, in July, Geoff will start studying pediatric infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital. Yowza.
I’ve been thinking about why I enjoy teaching and mentoring. Since I have no children of my own, is this my way of obtaining a temporary family? I doubt it, as I enjoy mentoring my peers just as much as those who are junior to me. Is it because I want someone to follow in my path? If I impart knowledge and enthusiasm, will my students follow in my footsteps? Or is it that I am intellectually excited about the information I’m conveying, hoping that others with share this with me? I know that future experiences are not likely to equal the success of my mentoring of Geoff Guenther, but if I can help a few of those I’m working with into thinking about the health of all of the people on this Earth, I will consider that a success.
