The 2nd Annual DOM Fellows Retreat was well attended with about 55 fellows and fellowship directors participating on Tuesday, Sept. 19, in the UA Cancer Center’s Kiewit Auditorium.
Click here [PDF] or on the image at left for a photo gallery from the event. You also can watch archived video of the presentations at this link.
Leading off the “Career Trajectories” segment after introductions by UA Department of Medicine Chair Monica Kraft, MD, was former UA Health Sciences senior vice president Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, MD. Dr. Garcia spoke about his humble beginnings growing up near El Paso, Texas, as the first in his family to attend medical school and where all he had envisioned for himself was a nice family practice in a rural community.
Tara Carr, MD, director for Adult Allergy Program at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and the UA Allergy and Immunobiology Fellowship, followed, noting that she’d initially wanted to be a mathematician.
Then came Anita Koshy, MD, PhD, a UA assistant professor of immunobiology and neurology whose research focuses on Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite often associated with cats that creates nervous system disorders. She admittedly popped around a lot, focusing on good mentors whose work she found interesting. Her advice if uncertain whether a mentor is the right fit—a second chance because even “an uptight Canadian” can prove helpful to your career.
Sai Parthasarathy, MD, interim chief, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and director, Sleep Disorders Center, added more advice on mentors and the dual roles of responsibility between them and mentees. Ultimately, you have to find your own inspiration, though, and he shared how actor Samuel Jackson helped him on that score.
Dr. Kraft then spoke about various “Pathways to Success”—among them clinical, academic and research, before she and Jil Tardiff, MD, PhD, DOM vice chair for research, broke retreat attendees up into three discussion groups. Topics focused on “Senior Residents’ and Fellows’ Perspectives on Research,” “How to Choose and Work with Your Mentor” and “The Fellowship to Academic Faculty Transition.”
—David Mogollón
ALSO SEE:
“Research, ‘Pathways to Success,’ Top Topics at DOM Fellows Retreat Tonight, Sept. 19” | Posted Sept. 19, 2017
"First-Ever PI Research Poster Night by Department of Medicine Pulls in 100 Attendees" | Posted Jan. 19, 2017
“Fellows Pack House for First DOM Fellowship Retreat” | Posted Aug. 12, 2016