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School of Medicine
School of Medicine  :  Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs

little and big jayhawksVirtual Mentor

Welcome to the KU School of Medicine Virtual Mentor. This website features stories and struggles, advice and tips from award winning members of the faculty and is aimed at their junior faculty colleagues, fellows, residents, graduate students and medical students working toward a successful career in academic medicine or research. They will give you insight into who they are, from where they came, who or what influenced their decision to enter the filed of academic medicine, and most importantly what influences or motivates their work and life. Invited to participate in the Virtual Mentor Program are faculty members who have been the recipients of one or more of the following prestigious awards at The KU School of Medicine:

  • University Distinguished Professor
  • Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award the Jayhawk
  • Excellence in Mentoring Award
  • Honorary Mentoring Award
  • Ruth Bohan Teaching Award
  • Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award
  • Kemper Award
  • Higuchi Endowment Research Achievement:
    • Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences
    • Irvin Youngberg Award in Applied Sciences
  • Student Voice Awards (any category)
  • Gold Humanism Society


“The wonderful thing about life is that you cannot succeed on your own (or fail on your own); others are essential in defining who you are.”

Geoffrey M. Bellman, Author
Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge

Advice from Virtual Mentors

John W. Calkins, MD
Professor
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Recipient of the: Ruth Bohan Teaching Professorship, 2006
Gold Humanism Honor Society, 2008

Gary C. Doolittle, MD
Medical Director, Midwest Cancer Alliance
Capitol Federal Masonic Distinguished Professorship in Cancer
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Recipient of the: 2007 Gold Humanism Society
Various Student Voice Awards

Winifred (Winnie) Dunn, PhD, OTR, FAOTA
Professor /Chairperson
Occupational Therapy Education
Recipient of the:
William T. Kemper Fellowship For Teaching Excellence, 2004
Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award, 1991
Faculty Research Investigator Awards, 1989

Allen Greiner, MD, MPH, Associate Professor
Department of Family Medicine
William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence 2003

Matthew S. Mayo, PhD, MBA
Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics
Director, Center for Biostatistics and Advanced Informatics
Excellence in Mentoring Award Recipient 2007

Thomas L. (Tom) Pazdernik, PhD, Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics
2005 & 2006 Student voice Award – 2nd Year Outstanding Small Group Leaders
2004, 2005 & 2006 Student Voice Award – Outstanding First Year Course/Teaching
2002 KEMPER AWARD

Elizabeth C. Penick, PhD
Professor and Director of The Psychology Division
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award "The Jayhawk" 2006

Pamela K. (Pam) Shaw, MD, Professor
Department of Pediatrics
2004 KU Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award

Belinda Vail, MD, MS
Professor, Vice Chair and Residency Director
Department of Family Medicine
Recipient of the: Ruth Bohan Teaching Professorship 2007
Various Student Voice Awards
Rainbow Award

Anne D. Walling, MB ChB
Professor
Family and Community Medicine - Wichita
Recipient of the:
William T. Kemper Fellowship For Teaching Excellence, 2004
Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award, 1991
Faculty Research Investigator Awards, 1989

SPECIAL NOTE: We would like to give credit and thank the University of IOWA, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine for some our interview questions.

Virtual Mentor: American Medical Association Journal of Ethics