Medicine Mentors Podcast: UC's Scaglioni discusses importance of mentorship

The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center's Pier Paolo Scaglioni recently joined the Medicine Mentors Podcast to discuss his approach to mentorship within an academic medicine context.

"Mentorship is the holy grail of academic medicine," said Scaglioni, MD, associate director for translational research at the Cancer Center and professor and division chief of hematology oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine in UC’s College of Medicine. "A mentor is someone successful in their own field, but this is not enough. A mentor should be invested in your success, be accessible, have an open mind, respect your opinion."

Scaglioni noted a career in academic medicine is like a walk in the woods, where walking in a straight path will often not lead you where you need to go.

"If you did that, you may find a river or a valley that you cannot cross. A great mentor helps you navigate the many opportunities that exist to get to the place where you want to be," he said.

A good mentor will prioritize your short- and long-term career goals and work to make you the best you can be, rather than seeking to mold you into their image, he said. Scaglioni gave three tips for finding the right mentor:

1. Ask the prospective mentor how they feel about their career and trajectory. Are there different decisions they would make? What regrets do they have?
2. Ask about their mentorship style.
3. Speak with present and past mentees who have worked with your potential mentor, and look at whether they have been successful as a result of the mentorship.

"Here it is really important to recognize that the definition of success is subjective," he said. "Each one of us have our own priorities, our own values, and the definition of success is really dependent on our own goals and our vision that we have for our career."

Listen to the Medicine Mentors Podcast.

Featured photo at top of Dr. Scaglioni with a patient courtesy of UC Health.