A prized mentor

Center News

David Fredricks, an 'ideal teacher' who flawlessly facilitates an environment for creativity and independent thinking, wins first McDougall award

Photo by Susie Fitzhugh Dr. David Fredricks, an infectious-disease expert, said he mentors the way he would want to be mentored himself. His students report this extends beyond excellence as a teacher to include humor, openness to new ideas and berry cobbler.

Scientific lab members know it takes more than bright ideas to create success. It also requires collaboration, strong teamwork, abundant resources, and solid direction and encouragement from the principal investigator. And berry cobbler. Definitely cobbler.

That's why past and present members of Dr. David Fredricks' lab in the Hutchinson Center's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute were eager to nominate their leader and occasional creator of homemade desserts for the Center's first-ever McDougall Mentoring Award. Fredricks, they say, is the ideal teacher and supporter, walking the fine line between propelling guidance and stifling micro-management.

The mentoring prize was established by the Center's Student/Postdoc Advisory Committee to recognize and honor Center faculty members who demonstrate an outstanding investment in their lab members' professional development and success as independent researchers or clinical scientists. The award commemorates the late Dr. Jim McDougall, a founding member of the Basic Sciences Division who was highly regarded as a mentor in his 25 years at the Center.

Many levels of support

"Dave epitomizes the perfect mentor. He is generous with his time, space and resources, he is in touch with the pulse of the lab, and he is deeply interested in the professional career development of his lab members," said his team in a letter to the award-selection committee. "Dave consistently ensures that issues are readily dealt with and roadblocks are removed, facilitating a work environment that allows more time for creativity and independent thinking."

The award, presented Dec. 19 at SPAC's holiday party, came as a surprise to Fredricks. "I had no idea I was even nominated. It was a bit of a shock," he said. "I can't think of another award that I'd rather receive than the McDougall Award. I think it's just fantastic."

Fredricks, an infectious-disease expert, said he learned the art of mentoring by experiencing great and poor mentoring firsthand. "I mentor students like I would want to be mentored," he said. "A good mentor's interest in the student not only looks at the project but in the scientific development of the student."

"I mentor my students on many different levels. I first help them select a project, help them design their experiments, engage in problem-solving to address the inevitable challenges that arise as they're running their experiments, and help them present their data, usually in the form of a presentation or a poster. It's through that process of interacting with them on each of those different levels that students get some insight into the scientific process."

Tina Fiedler, a research technician in the Fredrick Lab, has worked extensively on her supervisor's studies of bacterial vaginosis. "He has made me feel important to the lab as well as to the sexually transmitted disease community," she said. Fredricks urged her to make a presentation on their work at an international STD conference. "Dave helped me through my nervousness and provided the encouragement needed for the presentation to be a success. He also credits each of us for the work we have done in his lab. I have had the honor of being included as an author in all manuscripts that pertain to my projects."

Dr. Prasanna Khot, a postdoc researching fungal diagnostics in Fredricks' lab, believes his mentor's style fuels understanding of the bigger picture. "He respectfully explains when to push further or let go of an idea, and he achieves this by taking the time to piece the relative significance of a short-term target into the larger vision of a project," he said. "Dave has always delivered flawless equilibrium between independence and involvement."

Keys to mentoring success

Former students recall Fredricks' munificent style. "When I first met Dave, I had essentially zero lab experience." said Corey Fish, a Center summer research intern. "But he keyed into my passion about research, and before I knew it, he had cleared space for me in his lab, allocated his resources for my use, and took a personal hand in teaching me about clinical research."

"Even though I was bound to make mistakes, waste supplies, and generally slow down the pace of the lab, it never changed how Dave treated me. He was patient, always willing to teach and allowed me to have a very positive experience. I learned more from Dave and the other lab staff than I have from several other teachers combined."

Fredricks' colleagues also cite emotional steadiness as a key ingredient for mentoring success. "As successful as Dave is in teaching scientific-thinking, career-planning and grant-writing skills, one of his most wonderful qualities is far less concrete: his calm, pleasant, warm demeanor," said Dr. Caroline Mitchell, an obstetrician/gynecologist pursuing research in Fredricks' lab. "I have learned many tangible things from him, but I think the most important are the intangible things he models: his humor in the face of experiments gone wrong, openness to new ideas, and always, a quest for excellent science."

While Fredricks acknowledges that his research could proceed without students in the mix, he feels the investment of his time and resources is worthwhile. "We'd be missing the chance to educate the emerging generation that's going to be taking on these scientific challenges," he said. "Students absolutely help my research. They bring a bolus of enthusiasm to our team."

Nominations for the 2008 McDougall Award will be accepted in the fall. "We hope this award will inform prospective students or fellows of potential faculty advisers with a record of excellent mentorship," said Dr. Brian Fritz, SPAC's chair and a postdoctoral scientist in the Human Biology Division's Tewari Lab. "We also hope the award provides an opportunity for lab members throughout the Center to acknowledge the faculty's continuing efforts to provide one of the world's most exceptional training environments."

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