We all need someone who believes in us. 🍀
As I look back on more than twenty years of mentoring, I’m reminded how quickly time flies and how deeply these connections shape the future.
Mentoring has never been just an activity for me; it has been a calling. Since completing my internal medicine residency, I have mentored, sponsored, and coached students from every walk of life: from elementary, middle, and high school to college, medical school, residency, and beyond. Each stage has brought new opportunities to listen, to guide, to uplift, and to help someone take their next step with confidence.
When I was invited to speak at the Future Physicians for Change conference, I accepted without hesitation. Why? Because youth is our future, and every opportunity to nurture that future is sacred.
Working with students from across the country and around the world, at the start of their medical journeys, reminded me why mentoring matters so profoundly. Sometimes it’s sharing knowledge. Sometimes it’s listening. Sometimes it is offering encouragement at exactly the right moment. True mentoring is selfless. It is a quiet investment in someone else’s potential.
Over the years, I have mentored in medical schools, residency programs, and faculty positions. I mentored other students and professionals as an attending physician, Director of Inpatient Teaching Services, Hospitalist Program Director, Clerkship Site Director, or Residency Program Director.
While being a full-time academic, I founded an undergraduate research program that guided more than 30 students. Many of those students went on to medical, pharmacy, or other graduate schools. Each success story was a testament to the ripple effect of believing in others.
Mentoring is giving. And giving is what life is all about.
At Indelible Learning, we have carried that same passion forward, mentoring elementary, middle, high school, college, and graduate students and postgraduates, in science, research, health, and science careers. We teach them not just the fundamentals of inquiry, but how to love the process of discovery. We help them see themselves as future scientists, physicians, educators, innovators, and leaders. We help them dream bigger and reach higher.
October 27th is National Mentoring Day, a beautiful reminder of how important this work is. But for us, at Indelible Learning, and for me personally, mentoring is not one day a year. Mentoring is every day. It is in every conversation, every opportunity to listen, and every moment of encouragement that helps someone believe in their own strength.
Through mentorship, we plant seeds of skills and knowledge that can grow into a forest of opportunities.
And as a result, when we mentor, we do not just change the life of one person. We light the path for future generations.
And as Indelible Learning work and our own symbol, our logo of perpetual light emphasizes: our work (and life) is about shining the light and letting your light shine. We hope this work (our work) creates ripples of change that can last a lifetime.
Dr. Jasminka Vukanovic-Criley MD, FACP, FHM is a multiple award-winning physician, internist, hospitalist, healthcare & education innovator & Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA. She is a career mentor & advisor to numerous undergraduate, graduate & postgraduate students & faculty. As a researcher, Dr. Criley received awards from the National Institutes of Health & the U.S. Department of Education Her work focuses on creating research-driven #edtech games & digital media to improve health, civics, science education & promote healthy habits. Dr Criley is also a sought-after speaker & a founding Board member of Physician’s Weekly. She can be reached on X at @criley_md and at www.linkedin.com/in/jasminka-criley-md