Invaluable Lessons from Mentors with Janet Serwint, MD

We are very excited to welcome Janet Serwint, MD, to the Faculty Factory Podcast this week. Dr. Serwint is Professor Emerita of Pediatrics and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Serwint is very active in the Johns Hopkins medical community, and she is very well known around these parts – and beyond – for her mentoring work. She discusses the value of lifelong mentors and the many lessons she has learned from them in today’s podcast.

When it comes to navigating relationships with mentors, Dr. Serwint is a wealth of knowledge. She opened today’s chat talking about looking beyond the wisdom of her parents when it came to her career in academic medicine.

“(My parents) instilled in me so many very important values that I've carried with me throughout my life, yet they were not the ones that could show me how to navigate academics because they had not had that experience,” she told us. “I think that really helped me to realize the importance of finding mentors early on in my career.”

Dr. Serwint leaves us with a brilliant quote from Yoda to wrap up this podcast: “We are what they grow beyond.”

“My interpretation of that (Yoda quote) is that good mentors hope that their mentees will exceed what they have accomplished, and I think that is an important lesson,” she said.

As also noted in today’s episode, Dr. Serwint is involved in The Academy for retired faculty members of Johns Hopkins. You can learn more about The Academy here: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/the-academy/

Please visit the Faculty Factory website to learn more: https://facultyfactory.org/

If you would like to contact Dr. Serwint: jserwint@jhmi.edu

You can also contact our Faculty Factory Podcast here: facultyfactorykim@gmail.com