Mentoring the Mentor: Another Tool to Enhance Mentorship M. Bishr Omary  Gastroenterology  Volume 135, Issue 1, Pages 13-16 (July 2008) DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2008.05.065 Copyright © 2008 AGA Institute Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 The reverse pyramidal progression of mentoring. There is a need for mentoring throughout one's professional career, be it academic, community based, industry related, or administrative. In an academic setting, the role of mentoring formally begins at the assistant professor level and increases in scope as the academic rank progresses. In addition, potential mentor–mentee interactions begin at earlier stages such as fellow–resident and postdoctoral fellow–graduate student associations. Highlighting the importance of mentoring at an early stage will not only benefit the trainees of the assistant professor, but will likely help the assistant professor become a more seasoned and effective mentor as his/her career progresses. Mentoring need not to be only pyramidal or hierarchical, because peer or near-peer mentoring also have important roles.10 Gastroenterology 2008 135, 13-16DOI: (10.1053/j.gastro.2008.05.065) Copyright © 2008 AGA Institute Terms and Conditions