Mentoring in Pathology: Review and Case Study with Observations on

Dunbar’s Number Kim Solez, M.D.

Discussing Mentoring Only Becomes Valid and Objective

If Young People Take Part

Four young people associated with me are attending meeting: Patricia Bacus, Korey Fung, Rongjia Liu, and Sina Marzuoghi

SingularityCourse

Students Involved in My Tech&Future of Medicine Course About Tech Singularity

Who Am I?

Who Am I?

Twenty-four years ago Kim Solez and Lorraine Racusen presided over a unique Meeting in Banff Canada.

The Banff Allograft Pathology Meetings Are Sometimes Said to be the “Best Meetings In Transplantation”. How Can This Possibly Be So?

The Banff Schema was first developed at a meeting of pathologists, clinicians and surgeons in Banff, Alberta, Canada, August 2-4, 1991 and has become the worldwide standard for the interpretation of transplant biopsies.

What People Mean is that They Like the Size, Atmosphere, Spirit, and Productivity of the Banff Meetings. These Attributes Must be Maintained.

The Banff Schema was first developed at a meeting of pathologists, clinicians and surgeons in Banff, Alberta, Canada, August 2-4, 1991 and has become the worldwide standard for the interpretation of transplant biopsies.

Dunbar’s Number of 150 People You Can Have Significant Empathetic Friendships With.

My Original Mentor in Renal Pathology – Robert Heptinstall1. Best known renal pathologist. Author of iconic Pathology of

the Kidney. Chair of Pathology at John Hopkins U. from 1969-1988, 103 Journal Publications

Liliane Striker visited Robert Heptinstall in 1974 and We Met 1. Immunohistology of the kidney and diabetes research,

Maitre de Recherche de INSERM Paris, then at NIH, 286 Journal Publications.

“Never reject the idea of making a really big change in your life, moving to a new country, learning a new language, doing something completely new, making a complete break with the past”. It seemed like an odd sort of bravado at the time, but in fact she did eventually do allthose things as her life progressed.

“Do Something Completely New” Liliane Striker’s Words from 1974 Had A Profound Influence on Me

Her philosophy can be seen in many of my activities:

1. The Banff Classification of Transplant Pathology

2. The course on Technology and the Future of Medicine

3. The concept of Medicine Writ Large

4. The Banff Classification of Tissue Engineering Pathology

5. The interest in Dunbar’s number

Died in 2004. What would Liliane Striker do if she were here today?She would collect all the men’s ties, as she did in parties in Paris in the 1970’s, so in the end there would not be a single man wearing a tie!

I became interested in mentors through Liliane and wondered if Dunbar’s Number of 150 could also describe the number of lifelong mentors/influencers active in one’s mind at one time?

Kim Solez's 150 Mentors/Influencers https://www.facebook.com/notes/kim-solez/kim-solezs-mentors-dynamic-alphabetical-list-of-150-consistent-with-dunbars-numb/10152467854781084 . A mix of friends, family, medical leaders,

celebrities, authors, scientists, musicians, artists who I spend time thinking about and who influenced me, a list of 150 edited through feedback from students working with me some of whom are at this meeting.

There are 42 physicians on the list, 3 medical students, 19 musicians, 8 writers, and 2 famous scientists. Most of the list is a subset of my Facebook friend list. Facebook friends on the list were asked for permission for us to publish the list. No one refused.

Kim Solez's 150 Mentors/Influencers https://www.facebook.com/notes/kim-solez/kim-solezs-mentors-dynamic-alphabetical-list-of-150-consistent-with-dunbars-numb/10152467854781084 . The list was fine tuned by the students over two

weeks a year ago in July, 2014. The list is comfortable, stable a year later. We see

no reason to change it. I helped found a new medical school in Nepal

devoted to rural health, Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS). A paper on this work by Liu et al. has been accepted for publication by JPAHS the journal associated with that new medical school and is scheduled to be published this month.

Kim Solez's 150 Mentors/Influencers Famous people on the list.

1.  Louis Armstrong (From New Orleans!) 6.     Harry Belefonte 17.   Leonard Cohen 27.   Philip K. Dick 32.   Albert Einstein 36.   Richard Feynman 45.   Stephen Hawking 47.   Robert Heinlein 48.   Jimi Hendrix 55.   Elton John 56.   Janis Joplin

Kim Solez's 150 Mentors/Influencers Famous people on the list.

59.   Kevin Kelly 63.   Ray Kurzweil 69.   Wynton Marsalis 71.   Herman Melville 80.   Willie Nelson 124. Britney Spears 125. Cat Stevens 126. Rod Stewart 137. Tom Waits 147. Neil Young

A Mentor’s List Constructed Using Dunbar’s Number Rules:

An Alternative Way of Looking at History One can criticize the use of the concept of Dunbar’s

number to describe this mentor/influencer list, as the list is life-long and Dunbar’s number is usually used to describe a dynamic count of “right now” significant friendships. However there are dynamic “right now” aspects of the mentor list. By definition it does not contain names of mentors now forgotten. It is a list of lifelong mentors that seem significant right now.

The number of 150 could be accidental. Further similar analyses and analyses of large groups of mentors will have to be carried out to determine whether the observations here can be generalized.

A Mentor’s List Constructed Using Dunbar’s Number Rules:

An Alternative Way of Looking at History

A Twitter study validating Dunbar’s number Goncalves, Perra, and Vespignani (2011) PLoS One.  6(8):e22656 analyzed data from 1.7 million individuals, validated the 150 number. It would be interesting to find a way to analyze number of mentors/influencers in a similar large number of people.

The listing of mentors is a valuable alterative way of looking at history, with its own flavor of richness. It is a kind of compression of history, or alternative form of analysis of history, and of human careers.