Skip to main content
NIH Intramural Research Program, Our Research Changes Lives

Navigation controls

  • Search
  • Menu

Social follow links

  • Podcast
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Main navigation

  • About Us
    • What Is the IRP?
    • History
    • Honors
      • Nobel Prize
      • Lasker Award
      • Breakthrough Prize
      • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
      • Presidential Medal of Freedom
      • National Medal of Science
      • Searle Scholars
      • The National Academy of Sciences
      • The National Academy of Medicine
      • The National Academy of Engineering
      • The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
      • National Medal of Technology & Innovation
      • Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals
      • Crafoord Prize
      • Fellows of the Royal Society
      • Canada Gairdner Awards
    • Organization & Leadership
    • Our Programs
      • NCI
      • NEI
      • NHGRI
      • NHLBI
      • NIA
      • NIAAA
      • NIAID
      • NIAMS
      • NIBIB
      • NICHD
      • NIDA
      • NIDCD
      • NIDCR
      • NIDDK
      • NIEHS
      • NIMH
      • NIMHD
      • NINDS
      • NINR
      • NLM
      • CC
      • NCATS
      • NCCIH
    • Research Campus Locations
    • Contact Information
  • Our Research
    • Scientific Focus Areas
      • Biomedical Engineering & Biophysics
      • Cancer Biology
      • Cell Biology
      • Chemical Biology
      • Chromosome Biology
      • Clinical Research
      • Computational Biology
      • Developmental Biology
      • Epidemiology
      • Genetics & Genomics
      • Health Disparities
      • Immunology
      • Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
      • Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
      • Molecular Pharmacology
      • Neuroscience
      • RNA Biology
      • Social & Behavioral Sciences
      • Stem Cell Biology
      • Structural Biology
      • Systems Biology
      • Virology
    • Principal Investigators
      • View by Investigator Name
      • View by Scientific Focus Area
    • Accomplishments
      • View All Accomplishments by Date
      • View All Health Topics
      • The Body
      • Health & Wellness
      • Conditions & Diseases
      • Procedures
    • Accelerating Science
      • Investing in Cutting-Edge Animal Models
      • Creating Cell-Based Therapies
      • Advancing Computational and Structural Biology
      • Combating Drug Resistance
      • Developing Novel Imaging Techniques
      • Charting the Pathways of Inflammation
      • Zooming in on the Microbiome
      • Uncovering New Opportunities for Natural Products
      • Stimulating Neuroscience Research
      • Pursuing Precision Medicine
      • Unlocking the Potential of RNA Biology and Therapeutics
      • Producing Novel Vaccines
    • Research in Action
      • View All Stories
      • Too Much of a Good Thing
      • Turning Face Perception on Its Head
      • Safeguarding a Second Chance at Life
      • A Biological Betrayal
    • Trans-IRP Research Resources
      • Supercomputing
    • IRP Review Process
    • Commercializing Inventions
  • NIH Clinical Center
    • Clinical Center Facilities
    • Advancing Translational Science
    • Clinical Trials
      • Get Involved with Clinical Research
      • Physician Resources
  • News & Events
    • In the News
    • I am Intramural Blog
    • Speaking of Science Podcast
    • SciBites Video Shorts
    • The NIH Catalyst Newsletter
    • Events
  • Careers
    • Faculty-Level Scientific Careers
    • Trans-NIH Scientific Recruitments
      • Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators
        • Science, the Stadtman Way
        • Earl Stadtman Investigator Frequently Asked Questions
      • Lasker Clinical Research Scholars
      • Independent Research Scholar
    • Scientific & Clinical Careers
    • Administrative Careers
  • Research Training
    • Program Information
    • Training Opportunities
    • NIH Work/Life Resources
The NIH Catalyst: A Publication About NIH Intramural Research

National Institutes of Health • Office of the Director | Volume 21 Issue 4 • July–August 2013

Four Generations of Mentors and More

BY ROLAND A. OWENS, OIR

Great mentoring produces great scientists, great science, and more great mentoring.

Nowhere is this adage more evident than at the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), where four successful mentors were recognized at its annual Poster Day and Mentoring Awards Ceremony, held on May 8, 2013, in Baltimore. And three of the awardees represent a line of four generations of mentors.

 group of people who won mentoring awards

DOUGLAS HANSEN, NIDA

Mentoring by successful scientists begets more successful scientists. (Left to right) Stephen Heishman, director of NIDA’s Office of Education and Career Development; winners of NIDA’s 2013 mentoring awards Jennifer Bossert, Thomas Keck, Kenner Rice, and Amy Newman; OIR Assistant Director Roland Owens; and NIDA Scientific Director Antonello Bonci.

“Mentoring provides the core of a postbac, graduate, or postdoc training experience,” said Stephen Heishman, director of NIDA’s Office of Education and Career Development (https://irp.drugabuse.gov/training.php). NIDA has several mentoring programs—a Mentoring Plan, a four-week Mentoring Seminar, and these Mentoring Awards—that Heishman hopes “will foster a successful mentoring experience for our trainees.”

Mentoring is “doing for my mentees what was done for me,” said Investigator Mentoring Award winner Kenner Rice (https://irp.nih.gov/pi/kenner-rice). He thanked his mentor, the late Everette May, an NIH chemist noted for his work on analgesics and drug abuse, for being a “gentleman [who] led by example.” Rice was recognized for being “generous with his time, often working in the lab for hours, elbow-to-elbow with his trainees.”

Rice in turn mentored Amy Newman (https://irp.nih.gov/pi/amy-newman), recipient of this year’s Investigator Diversity Mentoring Award. Mentoring has been “a lifelong lesson that I hope to pass on to the next generation,” said Newman, who was acknowledged in the citation for her ability to give feedback that is “sympathetic to the personal needs of her mentees.” She also understands that good mentoring often requires a commitment to the mentee’s career that lasts beyond the fellowship. Newman was recognized for mentoring individuals from groups that are under-represented in the biomedical sciences.

She has already passed the lesson of good mentoring on to her mentee Thomas Keck, who received the Postdoctoral Fellow Mentoring Award. Keck considers mentoring as “creating a new generation of scientists that I want to work with.”

Jennifer Bossert, the recipient of the 2013 Staff Scientist Mentoring Award, is starting her own mentoring lineage with postbaccalaureate fellows like Robyn St. Laurent, whose poster (“Context-induced Relapse after Suppression of Heroin Seeking by Adverse Consequences and an Alternative Palatable Food Reward”) was one of 37 presented at the annual event.

The mentors honored on this day represented well the legacy of Everette May, who had all the attributes of a good mentor. May “had a keen interest in our science,” said Rice. Furthermore, he “encouraged and helped all his students achieve their full potential.”


RESOURCES ON MENTORING

“A Guide to Training and Mentoring in the Intramural Research Program at NIH”
http://sourcebook.od.nih.gov/ethic-conduct/TrainingMentoringGuide_7.3.02.pdf

“Guidelines for Mentors at the National Institutes of Health”
http://sourcebook.od.nih.gov/ethic-conduct/guidelines-mentors.htm

“Thoughts on Choosing a Research Mentor”
https://www.training.nih.gov/mentoring_guidelines

Career services for NIH Trainees
https://www.training.nih.gov/career_services

This page was last updated on Thursday, April 28, 2022

  • Issue Overview
  • Features
    • Chain Reaction
    • Diversity Course
    • Wei Yang: Deciphering the Three Rs of DNA
    • U.S. Senator Harry Reid Visits NIH
    • Four Generations of Mentors and More
  • Departments
    • From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research
    • Photographic Moment
    • Alumni News
    • Alumni News
    • Colleagues: Recently Tenured
    • News You Can Use
    • Research Briefs
    • NIH in History
    • The Training Page
    • The SIG Beat
    • Announcements
  • Issue Contents
  • Download this issue as a PDF

Catalyst menu

  • Current Issue
  • Previous Issues
  • About The NIH Catalyst
  • Contact The NIH Catalyst
  • Share Your Story
  • NIH Abbreviations

Catalyst links

  • Follow The NIH Catalyst

Subscribe Today!

Subscribe to The NIH Catalyst Newsletter and receive email updates.

Subscribe

Get IRP Updates

Subscribe

  • Email
  • Print
  • Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Main navigation

  • About Us
    • What Is the IRP?
    • History
    • Honors
    • Organization & Leadership
    • Our Programs
    • Research Campus Locations
    • Contact Information
  • Our Research
    • Scientific Focus Areas
    • Principal Investigators
    • Accomplishments
    • Accelerating Science
    • Research in Action
    • Trans-IRP Research Resources
    • IRP Review Process
    • Commercializing Inventions
  • NIH Clinical Center
    • Clinical Center Facilities
    • Advancing Translational Science
    • Clinical Trials
  • News & Events
    • In the News
    • I am Intramural Blog
    • Speaking of Science Podcast
    • SciBites Video Shorts
    • The NIH Catalyst Newsletter
    • Events
  • Careers
    • Faculty-Level Scientific Careers
    • Trans-NIH Scientific Recruitments
    • Scientific & Clinical Careers
    • Administrative Careers
  • Research Training
    • Program Information
    • Training Opportunities
    • NIH Work/Life Resources
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • National Institutes of Health
  • USA.gov

Footer

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • IRP Brand Materials
  • HHS Vulnerability Disclosure
  • Web Policies & Notices
  • Site Map
  • Search