Cheryl Lee, MD receives prestigious award for her impact as a mentor

Cheryl Lee, MD, received the Joseph A. Smith Jr. Mentorship Award from the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO), honoring her impact as a mentor in the fields of urology and urological oncology. Her professional career focuses on addressing and treating bladder cancer and her research aims to advance new treatments and therapies. Mentorship in academic medicine exists in each of the pillars of clinical service, research, education and administration. Dr. Lee recently delivered the keynote address at the society’s winter meeting. She discussed level 5 mentorship, a concept developed by Jim Collins, and shared these key insights on moving mentoring relationships from transactional to transformational by:

1. Creating trust and intentionally being present and invested in helping mentee feel seen and heard.
2. Tailoring input to address mentee’s goals so they gain clarity and direction and teaching them frameworks for new ways of thinking and approaching tasks.
3. Acting as a coach and providing stretch and growth opportunities, so they build identity and agency and re-define what’s possible.
4. Modeling humility and professionalism and leading by example.
5. Understanding mentorship is a multipronged approach that helps mentees develop talents, maintain a work-life balance and advance their careers.
6. Actively opening doors and opportunities and investing political capital.
7. Sharing survey data review results assessing effects of mentorship on surgery residents' burnout and well-being that shows high quality mentorship is associated with decreased burnout, increased well-being, clinical and operative autonomy and career satisfaction.
8. Sharing research that correlates mentorship satisfaction to going beyond just spending time together but includes mentor’s behavior, prestige, collegiate attitude and ability to address various roles.