Psychiatr News February 2, 2007
Volume 42, Number 3, page 19
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association
Mentors Can Change Your Life
Lea DeFrancisci Lis, M.D.
Lea DeFrancisci Lis, M.D., is chair of the APA Committee of Residents and
Fellows and is a resident in child psychiatry at New York University School of
Medicine.
My first mentor was my father. He was always proud of my accomplishments. I
remember him standing by the side-lines at my basketball games as he watched
me miss all the baskets. He listened and smiled at my screechy off-key voice
in the school musicals. He enjoyed how I livened up the viola concerts in
elementary school; this was before the orchestra teacher politely asked if I
might prefer chorus. He never lost faith in me, and if I did not do well, he
would say: "Splash some cold water on your face and get going." He
repeated on numerous occasions, "My daughter will become surgeon general
some day." It was his endless faith and optimism in my talents that
pushed me to succeed.
Good mentoring is the key to success in any career, and this is especially
true in medicine. In my first year in residency my training director at St.
Vincent's Hospital in New York, Dr. Brian Ladds, notified me of a position
that had become available on the APA Committee of Residents and Fellows and
encouraged me to apply. I was overwhelmed with my internship and felt the
burden of the application might be too much, but I finished it the day before
it was due and mailed it off. This resulted in my nomination to the Committee
of Residents and Fellows and sparked a career in advocacy.
I had wonderful mentors from St. Vincent's who all made a difference in my
career, including Dr. Joseph English, a former president of APA. His guidance
helped me make valuable contacts and get the Committee of Residents and
Fellows agenda items through the governance structure of APA.
Dr. Spencer Eth also jumped in to mentor me at St. Vincent's and recruited
me to join the APA Ethics Committee as the only resident member. This work has
become the highlight of my residency career, broadening my education in ways I
never thought possible.
Later Dr. Nada Stotland, APA's vice president, helped the Committee of
Residents and Fellows and the Assembly Committee of Member-in-Training (MIT)
Representatives pass their first joint action paper on MIT mentoring. This was
an unprecedented event for these two committees. The paper called on APA to
provide a formal mentoring program for every MIT who serves in an
APA-sponsored fellowship. When the MIT begins the two- or three-year
commitment in a fellowship, the chair of the fellowship committee will assign
him or her a senior mentor in an area that interests the MIT. This mentor will
help the MIT navigate APA's often-confusing procedures and policies. It may be
as simple as advising a mentee on what to wear to a meeting or as complicated
as helping a mentee prepare to chair an annual-meeting workshop.
What does it mean to volunteer to be a mentor? One suggestion that I hope
mentors will use is to take their mentee to lunch, dinner, or coffee at least
once a year. A face-to-face meeting in a relaxed setting is very important for
building the mentoring relationship. Additionally, this should be followed by
phone or e-mail contact at least once a month throughout the year.
I would also encourage mentors to take their mentees with them to academic
meetings and social events such as the minority-network cocktail party at the
APA fall component meetings or the academic institution's party at the APA
annual meeting each May. Mentors should introduce MITs to others who share the
mentees' interests and inform them of the governance and politics that make
APA work, as this is something that cannot be learned from a book.
Mentors have not only helped with my education, but also forever changed
the course of my life by sparking interests in areas that I never knew would
intrigue me. Advocacy is now a top priority in my career, thanks to those who
have helped me realize that I can change things patient by patient or through
more broad, sweeping changes in public policy affecting mental illness and its
treatment.
Mentoring is the most important contribution senior APA members can provide
for MITs. If the mentoring program is successful on the national level, I
would encourage district branches and state associations to also create a
mentoring program for their MITs. This will create highly motivated future
advocates for people with mental illness across the country. 
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