1. K-Award Workshop: Mentorship Plan
Peg Nopoulos, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Neurology

2. Your Primary Mentor It all starts here You need a Rock Start Mentor
Well funded lab by the NIH
Provides resources
A research ‘community’
Established success
Success in mentorship
Students, fellows
Previous k-awardees

3. Mentoring Teams Primary mentor needs to be in your same institution
Additional mentors can be at a different institution
Not too many mentors!
Example: Junior faculty in Pediatric Nephology
Wants to study brain imaging in kids with chronic kidney disease
Primary mentor: me (Brain Imaging)
Additional mentor in Peds Nephrology
One local
One at another institution
MR expert
Developed novel pH imaging
Biostatistics

5. Writing Letters of Support
YOU ‘draft’ all letters of support
You know your history, work, better than anybody
Good practice in selling yourself
Modified by the mentor

6. Mentorship Team
Skill Acquisition
Teaching Opportunities
Primary Mentor: Peg Nopoulos, MD,
Professor, Vice Chair of Research, Department of Psychiatry
Expanding neuroimaging skills, development of computing infrastructure for lab, management of lab, professional development
Weekly 1 hour 1-on-1 research-focused meeting, weekly 1 hour group clinical meeting
Collaborator: Daniel Tranel, PhD
Director, Benton Neuropsychology Laboratory
Advanced use of the lesion method in neuropsychology
Monthly 1-on-1 meetings and twice-per-week group research meetings
Off-site Collaborator: Jeremy Schmahmann, MD, PhD
Director of the MGH Ataxia Unit and the Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Cerebellar Neurobiology, MGH
Cerebellum imaging (SUIT software), advanced neuroanatomy, clinico-anatomical correlation
Regular monthly meetings, or more frequently during manuscript preparation
Collaborator: Amy Conrad, PhD
Pediatric Neuropsychologist
Neuropsychology testing and analysis in the pediatric population
Regular meeting in conjunction with each participant
Collaborator: Vince Magnotta, PhD
Director, Magnetic Resonance Research Facility
Development of MRI protocols, MRI acquisition
Meet quarterly, or more frequently as needed during specific stages of the research project
Collaborator: Toshio Moritani MD, PhD

Clinical Professor, Director of Clinical Neuroradiology Research
Neuroanatomy and neuroradiology of the posterior fossa and cerebellum
Regular meetings to review anatomical tracings of cerebellum lesions
Committee Member: Kathy Mathews, MD. Division Director of Pediatric Neurology
Guidance in overall strategy for successfully navigating the promotions process and overall professional development
Meet quarterly 1-on-1 in addition to twice yearly committee meetings
Others: Subject recruitment will be aided by Sue O’Dorisio, who is an oncologist with a successful cerebellar tumor research program. She will help with subject recruitment along with the pediatric neurosurgeons Arnold Menezes and Brian D’loughy. Robin Jones is a pediatric neuro-oncologist at MGH who will be an off-site collaborator in conjunction with Jeremy Schmahmann who was instrumental in collecting the data for existing database used in Aim 1.