Become a Mentor, “You will be affected and changed for the better.”
By David and Marian Bensema, LMS Mentors since 2016
The ninth and final enumerated statement of the DECLARATION OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: MEDICINE’S SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH HUMANITY, embraced by the American Medical Association since 2001, states, “Teach and mentor those who follow us for they are the future of our caring profession.” This is something that was modeled for us in our training by; Abner Golden, MD, John Thompson, MD, Deborah Powell, MD, and Phillip DeSimone, MD, among others. Mentorship continued in our practice careers through our partners and colleagues. It shaped us as physicians and as members of our community at large. We have striven to provide mentoring to others throughout our careers, whether Marian showing prospective medical students what pathology is all about, or Dave helping a younger colleague develop their gift for leadership in organized medicine.
When the Lexington Medical Society (LMS) began its formal mentorship program five years ago, it was a natural fit. We signed up immediately and were impressed with how well the process matched the interests of our students with what we had to offer. As with so many of the opportunities to serve that we have encountered in our lives, mentoring has provided more benefit to us than we can even hope our students have experienced. We have been intellectually stimulated, found some of our long-held dogmas challenged, and had our enthusiasm for the profession recharged. Our students have gained the benefit of our experience in the provision of care to patients, in supporting colleagues through formal consultation and informal friendships, in the byzantine realm of the business aspects of medicine, and in a wide variety of leadership roles.
We and our student mentees have enjoyed it so much that we do not end the relationships at the conclusion of their third or even fourth year of medical school. We remain connected through their residencies. Dave had his first LMS mentee complete her training in Internal Medicine this year and we are celebrating her young family’s move to Louisville and the pending start of her practice career. Experiences like this are rich and meaningful for mentor and mentee and we view them as gifts in our lives. We hope you will consider joining us as mentors in the Lexington Medical Society’s third year medical student mentorship program. We can assure you, you will be affected and changed for the better.
Link to register as a 2022- 2023 LMS mentor
Link for more information about the LMS Mentorship Program
- What: Register as a mentee for the 2022-2023 LMS Mentorship Program (September 2022 to May 2023)
- Who: UK College of Medicine 3rd year medical students
- How: Take a short survey to enable us to pair you with a mentor.
- Where & How often: You and your mentor decide how to meet (virtually, telephonically, text, email, in-person) and how often. Most of our mentor/mentee pairs, in past years, had contact once a month.
- Why: Provide our medical students a source of encouragement, advice, and support as they transition from academic to clinical phase of medical school.