What's Past is Prologue

Many institutions and professional societies have created specialized mentoring programs for women. One benefit of many of these programs is that these often lead to enhanced mentoring activities for all faculty. The following book is very engaging collection of profiles of women in medicine and science at Vanderbilt. Each profile describes how the faculty member addressed challenges and then " gave back to others " by sharing their experiences and successes. The Dean of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Dr. Steven Gabbe notes in his forward that " ..there is much we can, and should, do to address the special obstacles facing our women on faculty, including providing effective mentoring... " However he also makes the important point that " As the Dean of the School of Medicine at Vanderbilt, I have become increasingly aware of these many lessons and try to incorporate such lessons into our strategies to help all faculty be successful.. "