Effective mentors often create a ripple effect when their mentees go on to counsel and support others. In the process, successful mentoring skills and styles may be passed down from generation to generation.
Duane Pinto, Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, credits his own mentor, Michael Gibson, an HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center, with teaching him the importance of mutuality in a mentoring relationship. It’s an element he says he now incorporates in his own mentoring style.
“My mentorship style involves an approach that recognizes the mutual dependency of the mentor and mentee relationship, involving a bidirectional exchange of frank opinions and ideas,” said Pinto, who was recently recognized by the HMS Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership with the 2012-2013 HMS Young Mentor Award.
In support of his nomination, Pinto’s mentees described him as an invaluable “guide on the side” to the many Beth Israel Deaconess cardiovascular fellows that he has mentored over the years in his role as fellowship program director.
“In setting a high bar for himself and others, he exemplifies what it means to be an advisor, guide and role model. I cannot think of anyone else I have known who has had such a profound and positive influence on so many people. I feel privileged to be able to work with him and enthusiastically, vociferously and fervently nominate him for the Young Mentor award,” wrote one of his mentees.
“The key factors that have contributed to my successful mentoring relationships are enthusiasm, commitment and respect. All of these are required of both the mentor and mentee. Both the mentor and mentee have to make a commitment to the relationship and recognize that, like all relationships, some aspects may work and some may not, and the relationship evolves over time,” said Pinto.
Pinto advised faculty members who wish to improve their mentoring skills to seek out the “masters of mentoring” in their communities.
“These individuals can help with the difficult parts of being a mentor, such as techniques in how to give negative feedback and overcome personality differences,” said Pinto.
Pinto’s mentoring prowess is already having a ripple effect.
“I have modeled myself after his extraordinary combination of talents and am proud to have joined him this year as a colleague on staff at BIDMC. As residents and fellows now start to ask me about career plans and research projects, I can only hope to replicate the extraordinary early mentorship that Duane has contributed to our division,” wrote a former mentee.
Pinto was one of nine HMS faculty members who were recognized with Young Mentor Awards at the annual Excellence in Mentoring Awards ceremony held on June 5, including five faculty who were honored with the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award, and six who were recognized with the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award.
