Dr. Parth Sharma and Dr. Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis
Finding a mentor away from home
The best advice I received early in my career was, “Find a mentor, not a tor-mentor.” Every researcher and public health advocate begin their career filled with enthusiasm. The quality of guidance received during this phase can either make one (especially the enthusiastic ones) feel stupid and unnecessarily enthusiastic or feel like they are on the right track. In my case, neither happened.
In 2023, I had the incredible opportunity to present a paper on access to palliative care in India at the MASCC conference in Nara, Japan. For a young researcher like me, it was a monumental chance—not only to present the work my colleagues and I had done but also to connect with pioneers in the field of global oncology. I was eager to participate in the mentorship program, hoping to find guidance on how I could contribute to improving palliative care access in India. The Mentorship Network Event, introduced in 2023 at MASCC, gave me the chance to spend 30 minutes with Prof. Enrique Soto. Little did I know, those 30 minutes would significantly influence my career.
When I first met Prof. Enrique, I was greeted with a warm hug and the biggest smile. After learning about my interests and background and answering some of my questions, he said, “Why are you only thinking about India? Think globally!”
Since that moment, Prof. Enrique has been a tremendous guide in my work. Together, we co-authored our first article, documenting the need for culturally relevant financial toxicity assessment tools. He supported me throughout the process, from concept to publication. We then collaborated on a systematic analysis of financial toxicity assessment methods used globally, and now we plan to develop tools tailored for LMICs like India and beyond.
Prof. Enrique also helped me shape an abstract for my study on the financial toxicity of oral cancer treatment at a public health center in India. This abstract was awarded a conference scholarship, enabling me to attend the MASCC conference in Lille, France last year. We later co-wrote another article advocating for the decolonization of pain relief policies in the Global South, and we continue to explore new projects together.
Thanks to his encouragement and confidence in me, I began to think beyond the local context and expand my focus to global issues. Since the MASCC meeting in Nara, I’ve presented my research at two international conferences, each time receiving a scholarship to attend. Recently, my research on palliative care access in India caught the attention of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, who invited me to join their Young Doctor’s Network. My work was also recognized by the World Health Organization at both the global and regional levels, and they are now encouraging me to expand my research to other countries in the Global South.
The impact of the mentorship program extends beyond me. Learning from Prof. Enrique, I’ve had the privilege of mentoring my students and juniors. One of them received a conference scholarship this year to present his work at the MASCC conference in Seattle, and another is awaiting the results of his abstract submission. I’m certain Prof. Enrique’s influence will continue to inspire generations of researchers.
Being mentored by Prof. Enrique never made me feel foolish for my enthusiasm, nor did it simply affirm that I was on the right path. His infectious enthusiasm, messages full of smileys and exclamation marks, wisdom, and belief in my potential made me realize that I could accomplish far more than I had initially imagined. He saw in me what I couldn’t see in myself.
I hope MASCC continues to support the mentorship program so that young, passionate individuals like me can realize that it’s possible to be even more enthusiastic than we ever thought. This world needs more mentors like Prof. Enrique, who help early-career researchers dream bigger than they ever dared.
Learning from your mentees: the importance of bidirectional learning
A lot has been written about the mentor-mentee relationship, the dos and don’ts of mentorship, and the many benefits of such a relationship. However, in many cases the hardest part of the relationship is jump-starting it. How and where do you find a mentor that has the right knowledge and skills to guide you in your career? And, how do you find the right mentee, who not only does outstanding work but ends up teaching you much more than you can teach them?
During my career, I have had the fortune of finding amazing mentors who not only guided me in my work as an oncologist and researcher but only gave me excellent advice for life. As I see it, the staple of a good mentor is being genuinely interested in your mentee’s ideas, work, and background, since that will not only allow for creating better projects, but also for increasing your own knowledge and widening your view of the world.
That is why when Dr. Larissa Nekhlyudov invited me to participate in the MASCC Mentorship Network event at Nara I accepted without hesitation. What better opportunity is there to know about new things than talking with young enthusiastic researchers who want to find mentors to help them with their projects? During that event I had the good luck of being paired with Dr. Parth Sharma from India, who talked about his profound interest in unraveling the issues related to financial toxicity in the patients he saw in his everyday clinical practice.
After that first meeting, I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Sharma in various projects addressing financial toxicity of supportive care in India, as well as on the need of doing a better job on providing clinicians in LMICs with tools to assess the financial burden faced by patients. I must honestly say that I have learned far more from Dr. Sharma and his team of local collaborators that they have learned from me!
Dr. Sharma’s success goes far beyond publications and presentations, he has a true calling for improving the care of patients with cancer in India and across the developing world. He is the founder and editor of Nivarana (https://nivarana.org/) a website dedicated to providing public health information tailored for the Indian public, with a focus on tackling disparities in accessing care. I encourage you to look at the amazing content, you will learn so much!
Initiatives such as the MASCC Mentorship Network event that takes place every year at the Annual Meeting are an invaluable forum for meeting new people, finding new ideas, and starting strong mentorship relationships. Of course, not all mentor-mentee relationships are automatically successful, and many will eventually fail, but I encourage all MASCC members to become part of this great initiative. Who knows, you may end up meeting someone like Parth!
