Everyone talks about the importance of mentors in career development, but there is another type of Fairy God Mother that doesn’t get as much press but can be just as important, this is the Sponsor. A sponsor doesn’t give advice and guide you like a mentor does, but when opportunities come up they think of you and put your name forward.
The most important sponsor in my career has been Chief of Medicine at Ascension St John, Lou Saravolatz. As a fellow, Dr. Saravolatz discovered a bug now known as Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus (remind me, what world changing research are you doing in your fellowship?). But as Chief of Medicine he has been my (and a host of other docs) sponsor. Dr Saravolatz invited me to give my first grand rounds presentation in 2003. A talk on contrast nephropathy.
Today, I gave another talk on contrast nephropathy. Here are the files. I will try to get a video with my narration up in the next few days.
Powerpoint (I just export the Keynote presentation to Powerpoint so I suspect many of the animations are crap. It is here just to preempt the chorus of Twitter requests for it)
Here is a video of this presentation Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Department of Medicine grand rounds.
I also am posting the talk bit-by-bit as #Tweetorials.