Faculty Mentoring Activities

Dr. Michael Nitabach, Associate Director for Graduate Mentoring, oversees the Faculty Mentoring Program. The goals of the Program are: (1) To establish relationships between students and MD-PhD faculty committee members, starting with matriculation at Yale, and maintained throughout the entire course of their study; (2) To have these mentors provide unique resources and mentoring perspectives for dual-degree students that are not otherwise provided by the MD and PhD advisory programs; (3) To foster interclass relationships within a mentor’s cohort of students that provide an additional level of peer-peer mentorship between dual-degree students; and (4) To create a better support network for MD-PhD students that is not only helpful to students when they seek out support, but also actively promotes their ongoing development as a physician-scientist in every stage of their training.

Brown Bag lunches are monthly informal meetings with the Associate Directors of the MD-PhD Program to discuss topics in which students express interest. These topics are generally centered around long-term career advice for MD-PhD students, as well as talks on practical skills like grant writing and balancing clinical and research commitments. Recent topics of discussion have included:

“Grant Writing 101”
“Clinical and Basic Science Departments: Implications for Your Career”
“Short-track Residency"
"Clinical versus research time: What is a meaningful balance?"
“The life you see for yourself in the future: how do my choices now affect my opinions later?”
“Decision points: when and how do I decide on what I want to do in my professional life?”

Dr. Tamar Taddei, Associate Director for Clinical Education is available for advice and guidance for clinical activities at any point over the course of your MD-PhD training. All students will meet with Dr. Taddei to discuss maintenance of clinical skills as they begin their PhD work, as maintaining some clinical activity throughout the PhD years is important and encouraged. Students should schedule a meeting with Dr. Taddei at least 9 months prior to anticipated thesis defense and again at 4 months prior to scheduled thesis defense in order to plan re-entry.