Join us for part two of our mentorship series, where we dive into the mentor-mentee relationship from the mentee perspective. Drs. Allison Sekuler and Rosanne Aleong talk with GeriMedRisk’s Co-Executive Directors Dr. Joanne Ho and Dr. Sophiya Benjamin, as well as Rehabtronics’ Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rahul Samant and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Bojana Turic. Learn about the key elements of a successful mentor-mentee bond, and how their mentors have shaped their innovation journey.
Key Highlights
Dr. Allison Sekuler: “One of the things that stood out is the bookendedness of it all. When we were asking the mentees what they were looking for in good mentors and how to be good mentees, it really mirrored a lot of the comments that we heard in the last episode about how to be a good mentor. It’s confirming from both perspectives that it’s a mutual relationship. It really needs to be built on trust, radical candor […] and openness. The idea of being vulnerable really came across. We saw in the last episode that the mentors have to be vulnerable but clearly the mentees do as well.”
Dr. Rosanne Aleong: “The common theme for both episodes is gratitude…our guests really talk about appreciation and gratitude for the time, expertise, and efforts of mentors. But then, in our first episode, the mentors also commented that they were very grateful for what they learned from this experience as well. So, I think like a mutual relationship, there’s also mutual gratitude on both sides of that relationship.”
Listen to the podcast
Resources
- The Craft of Mentorship (Community of Innovation Podcast, Part I of The Mentorship Series)
- CABHI’s Community of Coaches
- SBAR Tool: Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation
- Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell (Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle)
Learn more about our guests
Dr. Joanne Ho is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of GeriMedRisk, an Ontario Ministry of Health-funded program, which provides interdisciplinary, geriatric, specialist clinical advice and education to Ontario clinicians who optimize the medications of their older adult patients. She is also the Schlegel Chair in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy and Associate Professor of medicine, geriatric medicine, and clinical pharmacology at McMaster University. She obtained her MD from the University of British Columbia and did her postgraduate medical training at the University of Toronto. She is head of service for geriatric medicine for Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, ON where she provides inpatient geriatric medicine, internal medicine, and clinical pharmacology consultation services.
Dr. Sophiya Benjamin is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. As Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of GeriMedRisk, she works on thoughtful integration of geriatric specialties and secure digital platforms with in-person services to overcome current inequities and inefficiencies in access to care for older adults across Ontario. She completed her training in general adult and geriatric psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Benjamin served as the inaugural Co-Medical Director at Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario until 2021 and is the current Medical Director for the Specialized Mental Health Program at Grand River Hospital, which provides tertiary mental health services.
Dr. Rahul Samant is the CEO and Co-Founder of Rehabtronics. Over the past 13 years, he has been instrumental in the development and commercialization of numerous health technologies. Prior to Rehabtronics, he helped establish the SMART Network at the University of Alberta – an international consortium of research groups focused on the development of Sensory Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technologies (SMART). Prior to that, he was at Afexa Life Sciences where he drafted and successfully prosecuted over 20 patent applications and managed the development and launch of several new products. Dr. Samant holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Alberta.
Dr. Bojana Turic is the Chief Scientific Officer at Rehabtronics. She completed her MD at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, where she held the position of Assistant Professor of Medical Microbiology. With over 25 years of experience in leading companies from concept through significant clinical and regulatory milestones, she has held senior management positions at Landing Medical High Tech Co, Aspect Biosystems, Elix Wireless, and PMI. She has also spent time in the venture capital world, at Cross Pacific Capital Partners (XPCP) Venture Partners Group, where she worked in the area of biotechnology investments.
