Choosing a Mentor and a Research Project

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America College of Cardiology How to Become a
Cardiovascular Investigator Program
Choosing a Mentor and a Research Project
Roberto Bolli, M.D.
Chief, Division of Cardiology Director, Institute
of Molecular Cardiology University of Louisville
Heart House, Bethesda, MD June 2, 2005
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SEQUENCE OF DECISIONS
Clinician-investigator vs. clinician vs. private
practitioner
Basic vs. translational vs. clinical research
Mentor
Project
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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• Beginning investigators are usually unable to
  choose a project that significantly advances the
  field
• Consequently, the project is usually chosen by
  the mentor
• Consequently, you should choose the mentor before
  the project

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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MENTOR

• A teacher, a guide, a wise and faithful advisor
• So called from Mentor, a friend of Odysseus and
  the teacher of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus
• Athena assumed the form of Mentor when she
  accompanied Telemachus in his search for his
  father

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WHY THE CHOICE OF A MENTOR IS IMPORTANT
Choosing a mentor is one of the most important,
if not the most important, decisions of your
career.
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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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WHY THE CHOICE OF A MENTOR IS IMPORTANT

• Your mentor is for your career what your parents
  are for your personal life. You cannot choose
  your parents but you can choose your mentor!
• Just like a child, you will be totally dependent
  on your mentor. You will need your mentor for
  EVERYTHING!
• Scientific support
• Personal support
• Financial support
• Logistical support
• Political support

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The world of research
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WHY THE CHOICE OF A MENTOR IS IMPORTANT

• Your mentor is for your career what your parents
  are for your personal life. You cannot choose
  your parents but you can choose your mentor!
• Just like a child, you will be totally dependent
  on your mentor. You will need your mentor for
  EVERYTHING!
• Scientific support
• Personal support
• Financial support
• Logistical support
• Political support

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WHY THE CHOICE OF A MENTOR IS IMPORTANT

• This is the person who will shape and determine
  your career
• This person will be your role model with regard
  to your
• approach to research
• scientific rigor
• professional behavior
• passion for research
• work ethics
• focus
• perseverance
• ability to postpone gratification

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WHY THE CHOICE OF A MENTOR IS IMPORTANT

• This person will be your primary source of
  advise with regard to balancing clinical and
  research training, choosing your research
  direction and focus, making career decisions,
  etc.
• The quality of your training (largely determined
  by your mentor) is a major predictor of your
  academic success.
• Your relationship with your mentor will be a
  life-long one. Like a good parent, a good mentor
  will continue to advise you and support you
  throughout your career in countless ways.

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MENTOR
A great axiom of life In academia, the best
predictor of future performance is past
performance (Disclaimer this does NOT apply to
the stock market)
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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MENTOR

• Scientific credentials
• Has established track record of productivity
  (publications in high quality journals)
• Has established track record of success in
  securing national competitive funding (NIH, AHA,
  VA)
• Has an active and growing research program
• Is highly regarded and influential in the
  research community

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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MENTOR

• Mentoring credentials
• Loves to mentor does not use trainees as cheap
  labor
• Has established track record of successfully
  mentoring previous trainees
• Is approachable for advise
• Has time for you
• Meets regularly with trainees (at least once
  every other week)
• Offers at least 2 years of basic research
  training provides didactic training courses
  (statistics, epidemiology, outcomes, etc.) for
  clinical training

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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THE DOs OF CHOOSING A MENTOR

• Start early (at least 1 year before)
• Make appointments to talk with many potential
  mentors
• Perform a Pubmed search for publications
• Ask about their long- and short-term objectives
• Ask about their current lines of investigation
• Ask about their methods of training (will there
  be a specific person to tutor you on a
  day-to-day basis?)
• Ask about frequency of lab/trainee meetings
• Tell them your long-term goals
• Talk to their trainees
• Make additional appointments with the mentors you
  are most interested in

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THE DONTs OF CHOOSING A MENTOR

• Dont choose a person only because he/she has a
  large lab
• Dont choose a person only because he/she is
  Division Chief/Department Chair
• Dont choose a person only because he/she is
  famous
• Dont choose a person who is at the end of the
  road
• Dont choose a person who has trouble keeping
  his/her NIH funding
• Dont choose a person with whom you dont have
  the right chemistry

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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HOW TO CHOOSE A PROJECT
Listen to your mentor at the start of your
career, you wont be able to identify worthwhile
projects. Let your mentor choose a project for
you.
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Listen to your mentor
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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROJECT?

• Novelty
• Importance/significance
• Feasibility
• Plausibility of the hypothesis
• Adequate methodology
• Illuminates a mechanism

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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROJECT?
Descriptive To determine whether carbon monoxide
induces a delayed cardioprotective
effect Mechanistic To determine the mechanism
that underlies the cardioprotective effect of
carbon monoxide
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROJECT?

• Can be finished within a year. Early in your
  career, numbers are important.
• Is two-sided (i.e., the results are important
  regardless of whether they are positive or
  negative). No matter how plausible your
  hypothesis may be, it will often turn out to be
  wrong. Thus, one-sided projects often lead to a
  dead end.

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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROJECT?
One-sided To determine whether carbon monoxide
inhibits myocardial apoptosis Two-sided To
determine whether carbon monoxide inhibits
myocardial apoptosis, necrosis, or both
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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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THE DONTs OF A RESEARCH PROJECT

• Dont jump from one thing to another stay
  focused
• Dont take on too many projects at the same time
• Dont get married to a technique. Dont ask a
  question in order to use a technique use a
  technique in order to answer a question
• Dont give up
• Dont expect immediate gratification expect
  frustration
• Dont leave your work unpublished. Remember your
  work does not exist unless it is published if
  you dont publish it, you have done nothing
• Dont give too much time to your mentor to revise
  your paper keep bugging your mentor

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CHOOSING A MENTOR AND A RESEARCH PROJECT

• How to choose a mentor
• Why the choice of a mentor is important
• What makes a good mentor
• The dos and donts of choosing a mentor
• How to choose a project
• What makes a good project
• The donts of a research project
• Hierarchy of the qualities of the successful
  investigator

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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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HARD WORK The most important ingredient of success
Nothing can replace hard work. Intelligence
cannot. Intelligence is less important than hard
work. A workaholic with average cognitive
intelligence will invariably beat a lazy
genius. The world is full of very smart
investigators who never made it because they did
not work hard. Conversely, there are many
hard-working investigators who made it even
though they were less intelligent than others.
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HARD WORK The most important ingredient of success
Nothing can replace hard work. Talent cannot.
Talent alone does not lead to success. The world
is full of highly talented investigators who
never made it because they did not work hard
enough.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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DRIVE The second most important ingredient of
success
Drive (the fire in the belly) is the force that
propels and fuels research efforts. It is an
absolute sine qua non. Research requires enormous
drive. Drive is innate it is either genetic or
acquired in early childhood (the drive gene has
not yet been cloned but would be a prime
candidate for somatic gene therapy). Once an
individual reaches adulthood, drive cannot be
taught, learned, transmitted, or acquired. Trying
to instill drive in someone who doesnt have it
is like trying to change someones height not
only useless but also counterproductive.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE The untold story
Social intelligence is more important than
cognitive intelligence, although both are
necessary. Cognitive and social intelligence are
controlled by two different areas of the brain,
which are completely independent of one other.
Thus, they can be (and often are) totally
dissociated. That is, some investigators are
cognitively gifted but socially stupid and vice
versa. Only those that are endowed with both
types of intelligence will succeed.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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PERSEVERANCE The foundation for any achievement
Perseverance (I dont know why Im doing it but
Im doing it anyway) is a measure of ones inner
strength. It is indispensable to overcome the
inevitable difficulties and frustrations of
research and to reach your goal. Without it, any
effort is futile and short-lived. Perseverance
would not be necessary if research was easy. But
research is hard.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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FOCUS The hallmark of the successful scientist
Focus is what enables a scientist to become a
leader. If you publish in several different
research areas, continually changing your focus
from one area to another, you may do nice work
each time, but you will not leave a mark on any
area. By contrast, if you pick an area and stick
to it, following through and building each study
on the previous one, you will achieve a
progressively deeper understanding of the issue
and eventually become a leader in the field.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market

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ABILITY TO POSTPONE GRATIFICATION The
disappearing virtue
Closely related to perseverance, the ability to
postpone gratification is indispensable for
success in research or in anything else in
life. Achieving your research goals takes time -
always more time than you think. You may have to
work for years before your project is completed
and published. Sometimes you may even work for
years only to discover that your project cannot
be done. In a society like ours that is
predicated on immediate gratification, this
virtue is becoming increasing rare. Nevertheless,
the willingness to wait for years to reap the
reward of your labor is fundamental to achieving
your goals.
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HIERARCHY OF THE QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL
INVESTIGATOR

• Hard work (by far, the most important)
• Drive
• Social intelligence
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Ability to postpone gratification
• Cognitive intelligence
• Communicative skills (oral and written)
• Organization
• Luck
• Ability to sense the market