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(Circulation. 2000;101:1616.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Current Perspectives

Mentors for the New Millennium

Advice to a Young Cardiologist

Kenneth R. Chien, MD, PhD

Key Words: mentors • cardiology • ethics

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
"Congratulations! Today is your day, You’re off to great places, You’re off and away ... You have brains in your head, You have feet in your shoes, You can steer yourself, Any direction you choose ..." —Dr. Seuss¹

Along time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a solitary young cardiologist standing at the crossroads of his medical career. As a starry-eyed college undergraduate, he had dreamed of combining the life of a scientist with the practice of medicine. This academic calling would intertwine the intellectual fruits of curiosity-driven science and the emotional satisfaction of making a lasting difference in the lives of patients. Although he had a gift for science in his coursework and was fascinated by new medical discoveries and therapies for heart diseases, he had little practical laboratory experience. The nagging questions of self-doubt, the difficulties of obtaining grants from the National Institutes of Health, and the war stories of younger faculty seemed to point to the default pathway of clinical cardiology in the nonacademic setting. However, the road to private practice was also littered with casualties, thus creating the current dilemma of choosing a career path. Unfortunately, the dark side of managed care had changed the balance in academic medicine, and there were too few academic role models to allow for an informed decision. Although he had "brains in his head" and "feet in his shoes," he did not know which "direction" to choose. In short, he needed a mentor.

Perhaps it is time . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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