Virtual Mentor

An Interview With...

Matthew S. Mayo, PhD, MBA
Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics
Director, Center for Biostatistics and Advanced Informatics

Recipient of the: Excellence in Mentoring Award Recipient 2007

WHAT IS YOUR HOMETOWN?
Lamar, MO

WHEN DID YOU JOIN THE KUSOM FACULTY?
August, 1998

How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?
Statistics as an undergrad at MU and then medical research late in my Ph.D. program at Alabama

Is there a teacher or mentor who helped shape your career?
Mentor Seng-Jaw Soong, he was my boss in my first job doing medical research at the U of Alabama at Birmingham.  He took a chance on me.

How or why did you choose the KU School of Medicine? 
I was given a great oppotunity as a young faculty member to build something from the ground up.

What kinds of professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at KUSoM provide? What about challenges?
Biggest oppotunities, advantages & challenges are the growth opportunities.  Challenges are the growth areas because we are growing as an institution which creates both opportunities and challenges.

Please describe your professional interests?
Mostly collaborative medical research and my first job out I fell in love with it.  Trying to answer and solve interesting problems, being able to apply statistics to answer research questions.

What are some of your outside interests?
Family, MU football, sporting clays, hunting and fishing

In what ways are you engaged with the greater Kansas public?
Ducks Unlimited

Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?
I'm just competitive and like to do things well both in the teams I work with and indvidually.

If you ever had to overcome any obstacles in your life, please tell us about them and how you overcame them or face obstacles on a daily basis.
My last semester of my PhD program my father past away.  I stayed focused on finishing because I knew that is what he would want me to do.

If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine/science), what would it be?
More value to be placed on academics and science

What is the biggest change you've experienced in your field since you were a student?  
Communicating statistics both verbally and in writing

What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced or witnessed in your field or the field of medicine as a whole since you were a student?
Communicating statistics both verbally and in writing to and for medical researchers

What do you see as the future of medicine?  
Even more inter-disciplinary teaching and research

What particular skills acquired during your graduate career do you find most valuable in your professional career today?  
Writing skills

What one piece of advice you would give to:

Graduate students: Keep all options open.

Junior Faculty:  This is a career, not a job, view it that way.

I would tell all of them:  Document, document, document.

What do you believe is the key reason that led to your selection over all others in for being presented one of the awards listed above?
That I challenge my mentees in a productive manner and that they see the passion for what I do.

As a VIRTUAL MENTOR, please offer your advice to new and/or junior faculty on a topic of your choice. (Mentors have a list of over 100 topics from which to choose for this interview, and target their advice to junior faculty.)

TOPIC: Asking for help
ADVICE:  Do it and don’t be afraid to do it.

TOPIC: Being Turned Down, Feeling You’ve Failed (with Grants)
ADVICE: It's part of the game.  If you get into this game you can't wear your heart on your sleeve

TOPIC: Communicating High Expectations
ADVICE: This is something I'm still workintg on but i feel you still have to do this to your mentees and yourself

TOPIC: Core Abilities
ADVICE: Know what you don’t know

TOPIC: Planning for a Promotion
ADVICE: Making sure you document all the positive aspects of what you do in your career you have a package that looks excellent and basically sells yourself.

TOPIC: When you loose your enthusiasm
ADVICE: Try to live by the 90-10 rule.  Try not to let the negative 10% overshadow the positive 90%

TOPIC: Why I Still Teach/Research
ADVICE: I love it.

TOPIC: Why I’d Choose to Teach/Research All Over Again
ADVICE: I love it.