Thank you very much for bestowing this very
special award to me. Words can not express how grateful I am to receive this
recognition. To be associated with an award named in honor of Bodil Schmidt
Nielsen is truly a very special tribute. The Women in Physiology Committee
deserves to be commended for its initiative in establishing this award and
thus highlighting the importance of mentoring for the future of Physiology.
My special appreciation goes to Sinya Benyajati and all members of the
Selection Committee. It was a truly heartwarming experience to receive so
many gracious comments from former trainees and colleagues. Thanks also to
Lisa Harrison-Bernard and Debbie Olavarrieta for all the work that they did
in preparation of the application.
Today, I would like to focus on the theme of lessons learned along the way.
At the outset, I must acknowledge my original mentors and parents, Luis and
Concepcion, who provided me with a nurturing and stimulating environment and
gave me the inspiration to reach for the stars. Mom was a sweet wonderful
woman who thought ill of no one. She had been raised in a rather cultured
environment, had a great deal of musical ability playing the piano and
organ, sang in the choir, was the organist for a church, and a music
teacher. She made sure that we received some lessons in the arts, music and
religion, being a devout Catholic. Some of us responded better than others
with my sister going on to major in music at college, but even I had enough
training to sing in the high school choir and in the Singing Cadets of Texas
A&M.
In contrast, my Dad was a hardened Mexican cattleman, farmer, and dairyman
who came across the Rio Grande to El Paso, TX in the early 1900s with his
parents. He started a dairy farm with just a few cows but eventually managed
not only the dairy but thousands of acres of ranch and farm land on both
sides of the border. He did all this without the benefit of even completing
grade school. He was always attentive to details and could assess the
integrity of an individual within a few minutes of conversation.
I learned many lessons from him that have served me well through my many
years and there are many stories that I could tell you. Some of the most
important lessons are:
- the difference between knowledge and
belief—be confident in what you know and be able to distinguish fact
from opinions;
- carry out your assigned
responsibilities and don’t shirk your duties no matter what the
challenge;
- reach as high as you can in your
endeavors and follow your quest wherever it takes you;
- you have to work long and hard to
achieve your goals; the clock doesn’t matter only whether or not you get
the job done.
Looking back, it is amazing to me how this
man who never even finished grade school was able to achieve so much as an
astute businessman, rancher and farmer. Although he was not able to do so,
he made sure that all his children would receive as much education as they
desired and every one of the six children went to college with two in the
family receiving PhDs. The inspiration and lessons that they provided gave
me the drive and courage to pursue a career in science even though no one
else in our family was even remotely associated with science. Indeed, Dad
was the one who encouraged me to take a more challenging path in college
rather than study Agriculture or Dairy Husbandry. He recommended that I
strive for a “professional” degree which I ended up translating to the study
of Veterinary Medicine. But even he was surprised when I told him in 1962
that I was switching from veterinary school to graduate school and going to
Jackson, Mississippi to study physiology with a man called Arthur Guyton. To
someone from El Paso, Mississippi was surely the end of the world—maybe even
beyond.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my wonderful and
understanding wife, Randa, who married me while I was a graduate student and
has been with me throughout my scientific career. Without her support and
understanding, it would have been impossible for me to spend the countless
hours that are often required to survive in the world of science. Sometimes,
it is difficult for non-scientist spouses to appreciate the passion that
drives scientists, but Randa has tolerated my idiosyncrasies quite well for
40 years and gave me four wonderful children.
The scientific path is often circuitous but most of us started as youthful
students striving to reach the end of the scientific rainbow. At each
crossroad there are many paths from which to choose and the best one is
rarely obvious. Sometimes we falter, sometimes we go along dark roads alone,
or into paths that do not go to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
but instead up roads of frustration and anxiety. This is the way of science
and our destinies are not always clear. Choosing a career in science is to
follow a quest that is not fully apparent or always rewarding. In this
quest, however, we are often fortified and supported by those who have gone
before us and are able to provide us with the benefit of their wisdom and
experience. We call them mentors, and they have an awesome responsibility to
those who have chosen to come along the same pathway. A good mentor should
be a shining beacon helping the mentee make decisions, but never making them
for the mentee, and helping to provide the pros and cons of various avenues
without directly telling them which one to take. Such is the substance of
the mentor and, when successful, there are few, if any, other more
meaningful and rewarding experiences that one can have. Personal success as
a scientist is wonderful and rewarding, but can not be matched by the
feeling of jubilation and exhilaration that comes with the realization of
success by those who one has been fortunate to have had under their wings.
I have been one of those fortunate enough to have had the privilege of
mentoring many dedicated and outstanding young scientists throughout the
various phases of my career. It was very heartwarming to realize that those
who have trained with me and/or who have shared trials, tribulation and
moments of victory with me thought enough to nominate me for this award. If
I served as a good mentor, it is because I myself have been very fortunate
to have served with outstanding mentors who provided me with guidance
through difficult years. I learned most of what I know by experiencing their
guidance, listening to their advice, and observing their strategies.
Importantly, I myself was privileged and honored to have had as a scientific
mentor perhaps the most renowned physiologist of our time. It is not an
exaggeration to say that Arthur C. Guyton is probably the most widely
recognized name in the physiological world. Wherever he went throughout the
vast parts of this globe, colleagues and students alike would swarm around
him to get his signature on their copy of his textbook, the last of the
single author, comprehensive textbooks of physiology. Yet, back home, Arthur
Guyton was a dedicated, hardworking plain speaking mentor and chairman. He
was always accessible by a simple knock at his door and always willing to
put his important work aside to talk with a graduate student, fellow or
faculty to discuss research ideas or to counsel about personal problems. He
always had helpful suggestions and he certainly had many more ideas for
experiments than one could possibly do. Importantly, Arthur Guyton would
have lengthy discussions about ideas and concepts with his students and
fellows. He would suggest and guide but would not demand that certain
experiments be done. He would encourage us to buy into the concept and to
help design the perfect experiment that would test it. He would not write
our papers for us and expected a manuscript that represented our very best
effort before we gave it to him. He expected us to present our seminars and
talks without extensive notes and he never allowed us to read the manuscript
as the talk. Those are among the many lessons that I learned from him during
and even after my time with Arthur Guyton. Some of the most important and
enduring ones were to focus on concepts and mechanisms and that, in the
final analysis, the experimental data have to be reconciled into a logical
framework. You run experiments to learn and the value of the experiment
depends on the lessons that you learn from it. This is why he focused so
much of his efforts on systems analysis and mathematical modeling.
During the years that I was with Guyton, I took a year off to do
postdoctoral work at Duke University with Dr. Jim Clapp and Ike Robinson in
Nephrology. While the environment in Dr. Guyton’s department was very
comfortable, and it would have been very easy for me to stay there, I felt
it important to reach out for new challenges and opportunities. Dr. Guyton
knew how important it was not to squeeze the bird too tight and he gently
encouraged me to seek new independence. The years at Duke were extremely
rewarding, learning renal micropuncture techniques in close association with
Tom Burke and testing our hypothesis directly. Both Jim Clapp and Ike
Robinson were excellent mentors guiding me in the design of the experiments,
the interpretation of the results, and the preparation of presentations and
manuscripts. An added benefit was the proximity to University of North
Carolina where I benefited greatly from the mentorship of Carl Gottschalk
and the friendship of others at UNC. During my brief period at Duke, I
learned about the value and importance of interacting with physician
scientists and strategies for testing ideas and hypotheses in the most
direct way possible.
Shortly after returning from Duke, I got to know Tom Andreoli who was
forming a Nephrology Research and Training Center (NRTC) at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham. Tom had strong Duke connections and most of his
faculty did too. My year at Duke qualified me for the BTD (Been to Duke)
degree so I was considered favorably and I moved to UAB in Birmingham,
Alabama. Tom served as both a colleague and a mentor and we would spend many
moments discussing aspects of our research areas. We formed a very close
group and I learned the importance of having colleagues as mentors while you
yourself are mentoring others. For many years, we interacted closely and
worked together on program project grants, center grants and training grants
building the center. Indeed we call those the “Camelot years” because for
one brief shining moment, everything seemed perfect and we were successful
in virtually all our efforts. It was very important to Tom to have trained
experienced investigators serving as research mentors to the Nephrology
fellows and I interacted and helped to mentor many MD and PhD postdoctoral
fellows. We learned the importance of loyalty and teamwork, without petty
jealousy or infighting, and the mechanisms for establishing individual
independence within the framework of a team. In the NRTC, each major
investigator had his own research program with students and fellows, but we
worked together for the common goal of excellence within the Center. After
Tom left to follow his quest we continued on and the various divisions of
the NRTC grew and prospered. During those years at UAB, I was also heavily
involved as the director of the Minority Hypertension Summer Training
Program, which was sponsored by NHLBI. This program provided summer research
opportunities for faculty at predominant minority colleges in Alabama. For
about 10 years, we recruited between 6-12 science faculty and provided them
with research experiences that would help them enhance their educational
programs. Interacting with faculty from these predominantly minority
undergraduate colleagues helped me learn much about the importance of
increasing the numbers of underrepresented minority scientists in biomedical
research.
Although I was quite satisfied with the situation at UAB and we had graduate
students and postdoctoral fellows, and a renal center grant, my long-term
quest was to become chairman of a department but, somehow, the right one had
not come along. The opportunity to Chair the Department at Tulane came up at
the right time and off we went to the Big Easy.
As Chair of the Department of Physiology at Tulane for 18 years, there have
been many rewarding moments. Importantly, the Department is not so big that
it has prevented me from still being involved with students at all levels.
Our graduate student program is small and very personalized. We still try to
individualize the training program for each individual. Graduate students
need to be reassured, supported and above all, guided toward a project that
is exciting for them. Postdoctoral fellows want to develop a special niche
or turf that they can cultivate into a long-term program of action. Junior
faculty members need guidance and feedback as they develop a research
program that will be highly competitive for national funding. In these days
of difficulty in funding, mentoring the unfunded faculty investigator is a
particularly important and sensitive responsibility. A special privilege
that I have had at Tulane is to be the Director of the NIH funded Center of
Biomedical Research in Hypertension and Renal Biology. This unique
characteristic of this grant, which is part of the IDeA program administered
by National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) is that it is specifically
focused on mentoring junior faculty members and providing them with
mentoring and guidance as they strive to develop their own independent NIH
funded research program. It is very rewarding to nurture a junior faculty
member on their way to their first major research grant.
In all, being a Departmental Chair involves mentoring at many levels. And
sometimes, when we are faced with extraordinary challenges as we were after
Katrina, it seems as if it is too much to handle. At times like these, even
mentors need other mentors and they turn to trusted and wise counselors that
will listen to them and give guidance and reassurance. One such person is
Jack McGiff, a member of our external advisory committee, who has been there
to listen to my concerns and uncertainties in time of need. His counsel has
been extremely valuable and comforting to me, especially during the
post-Katrina months which were filled with uncertainty, anxiety and
confusion.
In closing, I would like to emphasize the major challenges of mentoring. It
is very important to serve as a role model. Students and mentees will see
what you do and determine if you live by the advice you give to others. They
are more likely to pattern their behavior from observing your activities
rather than from your words if they are not consistent with your actions.
Importantly, those of us in science need to recognize that it is a very
special profession that requires great dedication and desire, as well as
creativity and sensitivity. Egos are fragile and different individuals
respond to different methods of encouragement. The mentor must be able to
sense the needs of the mentee and provide individualized and appropriate
guidance. Furthermore, providing guidance is different from giving
directives. Training and mentoring involves helping the mentees work through
the options and making their own decisions. Likewise, talents and potential
are expressed in many ways and the mentor will recognize that different
individuals develop and mature at different rates. In the final analysis,
the goal of mentoring is to allow that development to progress at just the
right pace so that once left alone, the mentee will be ready to fly alone!
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