Table 5: What Can a Mentor Do for You?

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Elizabeth Bonney, MD

What is Your Current Position?

I am currently a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and Head of the Division of Reproductive Sciences Research.  I am a Board-Certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist in the generalist division of our department.

I remain an active member of the Vermont Center for Immunology and Infectious Disease (VCIID) and have been for over 10 years. I have been a mentor to a wide variety of investigators and trainees at several levels.  I have served as senior faculty in the Center, and as the Associate Program Director for a Women’s Reproductive Health Research Development program housed at our Institution.  I have also been an active member of the Society for Reproductive Investigations Career Development Committee, and I now serve as Chair of that committee. As a woman of color I am quite aware of the myriad formidable inherent institutional and societal obstacles faced by scientists not belonging to the dominant race and gender.  I strongly believe that I have served science by my continued participation and my contribution to the diversity of voices critical to productive and innovative science. I have consistently served as a role model, sounding board and advisor with the intent to help these scientists overcome these obstacles.

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

My laboratory studies the immune response to the male antigen H-Y to determine the rules for regulation of immunity during pregnancy.  We have extensive experience in examining the homeostasis of T cells in the mouse maternal immune system, and this extends to up- to- date methods for tracking T cell proliferation and death and measuring expression of the relevant genes. We further use a model of infection with Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV) to understand innate-adaptive immune system cross regulation during pregnancy. In a separate mouse model system, we are delineating the role of cellular circuits in LPS-induced preterm birth. This work was supported by a Prematurity Research Initiative grant from the March of Dimes. Our laboratory has recently extended its focus to include sex-specific immune regulation in viral infection and the examination of neonatal immunity.

What has been the most pivotal moment in your career?

None. It has always been a steady, difficult and (mostly) uphill course.

What is one piece of advice you would give to a trainee?

1) Don’t get just one mentor—you need a mentorship team.  Include someone who knows you well and can help with personal as well professional issues.  Include someone “big and famous” who can front for you as your grants, papers, job applications get reviewed. Include someone outside of your department/field who can provide perspective and may be seen as a “neutral party” in case of disputes. Include someone who is your junior.  Include someone who can help you with the day-to-day issues.  Include someone who can help you with a long- term plan.  Include someone who can help you build connections to a different country.

 2)  Choose a big question.  Your question should have basic biological, clinical, translational public health and political significance. It should be easy to convince an older relative that your question is important.  Your question should be one that can be approached from many different directions by using many different methods. Your question should be big and broad enough so that you (and the people around you) don’t get bored.  Even if right now you are doing something “small” or specific, you should be able to place it in the “big” context of your chosen question. If you can’t be convinced that doing something is related to your question, then don’t do it. Just remember that any good scientist, regardless of their field, might have part of the answer.

3) Set your priorities, take care of yourself, and know your own value.  This may mean saying “no”.  This may also mean defending yourself against nonsense.  It may also mean knowing when to fight and when to retreat to fight another day. Know your value deep in your heart as well as in the market place. Get information from as many sources as you can and update your assessment regularly.

 

Sam Mesiano, PhD

What is Your Current Position?

Director of the Division of Research, Professor of Reproductive Biology, Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

Our research explores the hormonal interactions that control the process and timing of human birth.

In 10-20% of  pregnancies labor starts before term (37-40 completed weeks of gestation) and in most cases leads to preterm birth - the major cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity.  Ultimately we seek to develop therapies to prevent preterm birth.

 

Emily Su, MD

What is Your Current Position?

Associate Professor, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Secondary appointment, Division of Reproductive Sciences
University of Colorado School of Medicine

What are your current research endeavors and/or other academic contributions?

As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, my research interest initially originated during residency while taking care of several specific patients whose pregnancies were complicated by severe fetal growth restriction (FGR). Clinical data has shown that we can time delivery to avert a stillbirth, but this is often traded for a neonatal demise or long-term complications of prematurity that are further compounded by severe FGR. Our lab is primarily interested in molecular mechanisms underlying abnormal fetoplacental blood flow and impaired placental angiogenesis in severe FGR, and this project is currently funded by an NIH R01 grant. We are also interested in the fetoplacental endothelial niche and are working to determine the progenitor cell capabilities within this environment.