WEBINAR SERIES—Importance of Mentorship at All Career Levels

October 20, 2022
11 a.m. EDT

In this webinar, panelists representing career stages from trainee to established professional will define mentorship and sponsorship, share their perspectives as mentee and mentor and discuss how good mentorship has helped them throughout their careers. Panelists will highlight how to find good mentors, create a supportive network and set expectations for the mentoring relationship. They will also share tips for being a good mentor and mentee.  

Key learning objectives include: 

• defining  mentor and sponsor and explaining differences between the two,  
• exploring how a good mentoring relationship can be beneficial for people at all career levels, 
• learning how to set expectations for mentor and mentee,  
• sharing tips for being a good mentor and mentee, and 
• discussing the importance of sponsorship at all career levels. 

Moderator

Di Feng, PhD, (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston. She obtained her PhD from the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Feng’s research interest is in understanding the genetics and mechanisms contributing to chronic kidney disease and hypertension. She is a longtime member of APS, serves on the Women in Physiology Committee and has benefited from strong mentors who have supported her transition from trainee to independent investigator.
 

Speakers

Erica C. Heinrich, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine. Her research interests include the integrative physiology of adaptation to chronic hypoxia with a focus on plasticity in ventilatory control. Heinrich has helped build faculty mentorship programs and has led workshops on inclusive teaching practices. In this session, she will highlight the importance of sponsorship for the career advancement of early-stage investigators across diverse backgrounds. Heinrich serves on the American Physiological Society’s Women in Physiology Committee.
 

Heidy L. Contreras, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at California State University, San Bernardino. She earned her PhD in comparative physiology from the University of California, Irvine, and undergraduate and master’s degrees in biology at California State University San Bernardino. Contreras completed postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Arizona. Her research is twofold: comparative physiology of osmotic regulation in insects, and examining the effectiveness of culturally relevant pedagogy in higher education.
 

L. Gabriel “Gabby” Navar, PhD, FAPS, received his doctorate degree from the University of Mississippi and served on faculty there and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Navar is co-founder and was the founding director of Tulane’s Hypertension Center. His research has focused on the importance of intrarenal angiotensin II and angiotensinogen in hypertension and diabetes mellitus.