Mentorship: A key mission of the Women’s Dermatologic Society

This issue’s “A piece of mymind” article by Dr. Fiona Cornish, immediate past president of the Medical Women’s Federation of the United Kingdom, speaks about the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s (WDS’s) “buddy” system of unofficial mentorship. It was this particular aspect of theWDS that drewme (DFM) into theWDS as a first-year dermatology resident, introduced by longstandingWDSmember, Dr. Elise Olsen. Within the WDS there are men and women who seem to love the mission of helping and guiding others, even if those people are not working with them. Dr. Frances Storrs was such a well-known mentor for contact dermatitis that when she was given the Rose Hirschler Award in 1991, she announced at the luncheon that she was donating her award money back to establish the first WDS mentorship grants. Today, the WDS gives out about 30 mentorship grants each year; the list of those who have received previous mentorship grants can be found at http://www.womensderm.org/?page=PastMentorshipRecpts. These WDS Mentorship grants enable residents, fellows, and junior faculty of both sexes to spend a few weeks with a WDS mentor to upskill in their areas of expertise. So long as either the mentee or mentor is female, this is suitable for consideration. The inclusion of men in this program provides a formal means for male mentors to support women’s careers, while male mentees gain insight into the viewpoints of successful women in medicine. WDS fundraisers have found this mentorship grant to be the most popular area of funding support to the WDS. In 2003, the WDS began to recognise a “Mentor of the Year,” nominated by mentees. A list of these is given below: