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Why you need a support team

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Why you need a support team
It is important to have a ‘personal advisory board’. It is a group of trustworthy, dependable, clear-eyed peers – who may be around or scattered around the world – from whom you can seek advice, advice, support, and perspective (and you offer those things in return). can do). Sometimes, perhaps even more often, the perspectives of others can help inform your own decisions, and lead you to find a solution to what might otherwise seem an insurmountable obstacle. In the nearly 25 years since I created it, I have found my personal advisory board indispensable. For example, as a university administrator, I was looking for a job two years ago when I realized I wanted to go in a different direction. I was having trouble recognizing what made me excel at something I was passionate about. I wanted perspective. So I called, texted and e-mailed my board members. In my case, these are colleagues from across the United States whom I trust, who have professional roles similar to mine and who speak my academic vernacular. They are the people I can always turn to to support and receive support on multiple levels: career and job-related guidance; Important data on admissions, budgets, courses and similar topics; And critical perspective on almost anything. They are as helpful today as they were when we first met in the summer of 1997. Consultant Gather In 1996, I had recently started a new role in managing the MD-PhD program at a large US medical school. With the requisite education, relevant experience, and a strong sense of perseverance, I felt I was up for the job. My first project was to organize and host an interview day for 25 applicants who were to arrive three weeks later. Five months after that, I was to lead a summer program for a dozen undergraduates who were interested in careers as physician-scientists. A month after he left, I was about to submit my first competitive training grant to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), which would cover tuition, stipends, and training-related expenses for students in the MD-PhD program. All this had to be done while I carried on with my daily duties of handling student affairs, budgeting, fellowship applications and crisis management. (And there was always a crisis.) During my first 11 months at work, I felt like I was capable of it all—but what I didn’t know was what I didn’t know. And I felt like I was constantly on fire. I was navigating through unwritten rules and unexpected challenges, such as trying to find opportunities for the program and its students, including funding sources, relevant conferences, and network development. Our office received hundreds of admission applications for the MD-PhD program within 72 hours of the deadline. We had to process them all, and invite applicants for interviews within two to three weeks. I was mentoring and supporting students through the emotional toll of selecting a thesis lab, while convincing applicants that they were eligible to apply to the MD-PhD program. I also had to learn how to maintain regular contact with my growing alumni pool, market the program, and look for new funding sources for it. A little help from my friends After a rough year in this position, I called a colleague at another institution who had been doing similar work for decades. It turned out that we were both supposed to attend the same upcoming convention. After two months of a phone conversation, we met at the foot of a mountain in Aspen, Colorado. Over dinner, I asked them to stay on top of data collection for admissions, alumni tracking, recruiting, and institutional NIH training grants, the largest government funding source for MD-PhD training programs, and a quality program. Frequently asked questions about an unofficial seal of approval for . In return, my colleague disclosed things I hadn’t considered, such as resources for finding alumni, and the names of key faculty members and administrators in our professional MD-PhD society that I needed to know. . We were later joined by other participants in the conference and for me, this was the beginning of the beginning. This is where I set up my advisory panel. My success, clear thinking ability and sanity would have been greatly compromised if it were not for this group. My teammates patiently provided endless tips on how to manage admissions, prepare those pesky NIH training grants (and deal with elaborate data tables), and what statistics should always be at my fingertips, such as Program numbers of students, broken down into every conceivable category. He also warned me about the challenges I should prepare for, such as finding a new laboratory for a student when his principal investigator leaves the institution.

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