Mentors

So my mentors are in town for a conference. Got to spend some time with them, over dinner, over drinks, and caught up on all that has happened in the time spent apart. They are two of the most important persons in my adult life, my second father and my second mother. The evening of looking back and chatting about the present was one of the most enjoyable evenings i've had in a long time.

i've known the two of them for almost 12 years now. They were the first bosses i've ever had coming out of a rather staid and unimpressive college career. In more ways than one, they gave me a focus and direction during a time in my life where my only thought was on making ends meet for the next month.

i had been doing bench research for a year or so by the time i wandered into my mentors' lab for a first interview. Though i loved what i did, the research i was doing was remarkable for it's lack of progress and insight. This was due to the fact that i had very little understanding of what bench research really was, and a complete lack of direction and a lack of knowledge. i was floundering with the best of them. When i first saw the want ad on the cummings street memo board, i had only two thoughts in mind. One, i loved research and science, and i really did want to explore what more there was out there. Two, i needed a job, i was graduating from college soon, had no future plans in mind, no career goals in mind, and three years to kill while my then girl friend finished medical school.

i interviewed in my dark navy, white pinstripped three piece suit with a red tie. Yeah, it was the 90's.

When i got the job and showed up for the first day of work, there was absolutely no expectations. i was begining a career as a lab tech. i was simply looking forward to direction, protocols, and colour by numbers work. Two weeks into the job, i knew things were about to get a lot better than i had ever hoped. My mentors are two of the most passionate researchers i have ever met in my career. They encouraged the curiosity that i had within me, but more importantly, they guided me through the first rocky weeks of the learning curve. They patiently explained to me the scope and goal of the experiment, pointed out the caveats to the experiment planning, and showed me the paper trail behind the science. With each experiment, they also made sure i understood the science behind what it was that i did. When we reviewed results and experiments, they tested and questioned me regarding why the results are interesting, significant, or even relevant.

To this day, the lessons i learned in the early days of working with my mentors stay with me. Those exercises we went through to design experiments are still used daily when i work on my current projects. They gave to me the mental tools and the analytical mental eye that allowed me to progress to where i am today. They are my mentors. To them i owe more than a king's ransom in gold and jewels.