| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
Mentoring Our Discipline—One Individual at a TimeI have always felt very fortunate to have chosen nutrition support as the focal point for my career. Certainly, this is a nutrition specialization that delves deeply into the medical intersection of physiology and metabolism. However, because this is such a young field, we have had the privilege to rub shoulders with and be directly influenced by the founding giants within our discipline. I simply cannot overemphasize the inspiration that was provided to me during my student years, to have Drs Rhoads and Dudrick take the time to personally discuss my research and future plans. It is opportunities such as these that make the A.S.P.E.N. family so very unique. Looking back, it appears these interactions were not accidental. These wise leaders fostered their young field by personally taking the initiative to `grow their own.' They were committed to `teaching their trade,' but more importantly, collectively fostering the future thought leaders that would take their discipline into the future. For as recent as these conversations seem in my mind, the photos of these impactful moments with the founders in our field attest to the fact that time marches on for all of us. I am certainly no longer a starry-eyed graduate student! With age and experience comes a certain responsibility—and I am not alone. As an A.S.P.E.N. member, have you contemplated how your needs and expectations differ from those you had 10 years ago? Have you also considered the most effective way that you can now serve your discipline? If you are a relatively new member, what is it that would most appropriately foster your growth into a future leader within nutrition support? I use the word `leader' purposefully when examining our past and growth of our society, as our forefathers recognized the need to ensure that they `grew their own.' They brought their colleagues-in-training to the A.S.P.E.N. clinical congress, they submitted their work for presentation, and they mentored promising young members that they met at the meeting. Are we doing that? Are we doing all that we can to support the future leaders of our field—both within our own institutions and at the national level? Let me submit a challenge to each of you, as I do to myself, to purposefully identify colleagues and foster their growth as nutrition support professionals. This needs to occur in each of our disciplines and is necessary to facilitate a robust future for our field. If you need inspiration, please be certain to attend Clinical Nutrition Week'09 in New Orleans. I'm very pleased to announce that the Rhoads Lecture will be provided by Dr John Rombeau. Not only is he a long-time member of A.S.P.E.N., a prominent investigator, and a past Editor-in-Chief of JPEN, but he spent hundreds of hours with Dr Rhoads and has served as an inspirational and generous mentor to dozens of individuals who specialized in nutrition support. Please attend his lecture and then let's work together to construct initiatives to ensure that we make our forefathers proud by returning the gift that they gave to us by growing the next generation of nutrition support experts. As you contemplate this issue, I'd love to hear what's on your mind—please send your comments, suggestions, concerns, and thoughts to me at ncp{at}aspen.nutr.org.
Nutrition in Clinical Practice, Vol. 23, No. 5,
463 (2008)
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
