Mentorship Matters November 2022: Celebrating our Sunnybrook Mentors

November’s Mentorship Matters column features two types of mentoring relationships that were shared during Sunnybrook Grand Rounds on Mentorship on September 28. These examples highlight the varied roles that mentors can play in their mentees’ professional and personal lives, from confidante, to career coach, to networker, to friend, as well as the importance of having multiple mentors for supporting diverse identities and individual needs.

Dr. Gina Piliotis and Dr. Susanna Cheng

In her own words, Dr. Susanna Cheng shares the impact one of her mentors, Dr. Gina Piliotis has had on her career.

"Gena always made time to listen to me, offered suggestions for my career goals, offered me opportunities, suggested contacts for me to reach out to and provided feedback for everything.

Our offices were next to each other and I would simply knock on her door all the time. She often reached out to me to simply check in. She made me feel valued and my contributions to education and the university important.

She is my inspiration. My success is a result of having such a dear friend as my mentor.”

Dr. Mireille Norris

In her own words, Dr. Mireille Norris reflects on the tremendous impact that mentorship has had on her life and career.

“As a Black female and francophone physician, I struggled to communicate my needs for mentorship. It took me years to adapt to the culture of medicine in Toronto. I benefited from sponsorship, informal coaching from female physicians who knew to mentor me despite our differences. The most impactful mentorship I received is in the past two years after 27 years in this city. The recognition of the particular challenges associated with intersectionality and how it impacted me as a mentee played a role I believe, in faculty and leaders providing the extra time, attention, expertise, which I needed to perform at a higher level as a clinician educator and academic leader”