Dr. Ellen Townes-Anderson, professor, Neuroscience and Neurology, has been named Director of the NJMS Faculty Mentoring Program (Phase 1: for the Basic Sciences and Clinician Researchers). This program, which was initiated by the Office of Research & Sponsored Programs during the summer of 2006, has been well-received thus far and under Dr. Townes-Anderson's direction, will continue to develop.

The overall purpose of the program is to assist junior faculty in the planning of their professional careers with the guidance of more experienced faculty. While still in its infancy, it has already established mentor/mentee relationships for 33 junior faculty mentors from various medical school Departments and Centers including Microbiology, Biochemistry, Surgery, Pharmacology and Physiology, the Cancer Center and PHRI.

The Office of Research & Sponsored Programs is currently working with the Chairs, Vice Chairs and Division Directors from the Departments of Medicine and Neuroscience to appropriately match mentees with mentors for those departments. "We aspire to reach all junior faculty in all departments by the end of this year." Dr. Townes-Anderson will work closely with Dr. William Gause, Senior Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Martin Schwarz, Director of Research and Sponsored Programs, and Ms. Gwen Mahon of the Research Office to further develop this important program.

Dr. Townes-Anderson has been a faculty member of NJMS for 12 years, becoming a professor in 1999. Prior to NJMS, she was at Cornell University Medical Center where she received tenure. Her PhD and postdoctoral work were at the Medical School of Boston University and Harvard Medical School respectively. She has been continuously funded throughout her career and currently has an NIH grant, funding from a private foundation, and is the Principal Investigator on a recently approved NIH training grant for pre- and postdoctoral fellows in Integrative Neuroscience. She has served on NIH study sections and also reviewed grants from private and state organizations. She has served on numerous medical school committees including FCAP, has been director of a graduate program and was chosen as one of the Master Educators. Thus, she is well-acquainted with the challenges and rewards of academic life in a medical school setting. She sees her role as an enabler of a program whose true success will lie in the relationships developed between junior and senior faculty.

Many thanks to the faculty mentors, for without them, this program would not be possible. The Research Office looks forward to growing this program to be a successful one for each individual department, and for the medical school as a whole.

For more details about the program, please visit the ORSP website at http://njms.umdnj.edu/research/orsp/index.cfm and click on the link "NJMS Faculty Mentoring Program" for an overview. It should be noted that this program was developed by the NJMS Faculty Mentoring Program Committee (members listed below), which consists of both junior and senior faculty from several departments.

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