Students rely on educators and mentors to determine priorities and purpose as well as to shape career goals and paths. Influential educators and mentors leave permanent, long-lasting effects. Though education and mentorship require time commitment, being an educator has lasting benefits, including improvement of professional satisfaction and reputation. Being an educator and a mentor also provides ways to learn and expand on knowledge. 

Early exposure to educators and mentors provides opportunities to trainees to follow a specific career path. Many people devoted their time, energy and resources to help shape my career path. These great mentors invested in my education and professional life, allowing me to become who I am today, working to educate the next generation of health care professionals. For me, it is only right to invest in someone else’s future, to help them achieve their professional goal. I believe paying it forward fosters a balance in life. It is because of these reasons that I accepted Leah Faust-Duncan’s request for a research opportunity at KU School of Medicine-Wichita. Through the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Educational Experience program, Leah is working with me as a research assistant. This mentorship and educational experience started on Aug. 1 and will end on July 31, 2023.

The benefits of the program range from learning about careers in health care to gaining valuable research experience. The program provides observational and hands-on research opportunities or observational experiences in clinical environments.

Leah grew up in Olathe, Kansas, and attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, graduating this past May with a Bachelor of Science degree in life science with a minor in biology. She moved to Wichita this summer for her husband’s career in flour milling. Leah is planning to apply to medical school during the 2023 cycle, so she is using this time to prepare for the medical school application and to gain some research experience.

Regarding the opportunity to work with the Department of Family & Community Medicine, Leah said, “I reached out to KU School of Medicine to see if there were any opportunities for me to become involved in and learn more about research. I have been very fortunate to begin working with Dr. Samuel Ofei-Dodoo. It has been such a wonderful experience so far and I have learned so much about the process of research. I can already tell that this experience is going to be extraordinarily beneficial for me as a student and as an aspiring doctor."

Some of the projects Leah has been working on include clinical efficacy of ultrasound-guided iliopsoas corticosteroid injection for hip pain after narcotics, nicotine dependence through electronic cigarette use and depressive symptoms among adolescents, and finding a more accurate method to predict primary care workforce production.

There is always a sense of pride in helping medical trainees realize their future accomplishments. Investing in others also fosters lifelong friendship, often with mutual interests. As a medical educator, I believe that the way we make people feel ignites love, compassion and purpose that can be translated into their medical practice.