Academic Mentoring Council
At MD Anderson, we believe mentorship is pillar of academic and professional success. Whether it's given or received, we recognize effective mentoring is not an innate ability but rather a skill that is cultivated through intentional and evidence-based support.
Our Academic Mentoring Council works to advance the practice, education, application, and recognition of academic mentorship at MD Anderson through an inclusive lens. The council leads several interprofessional initiatives across the institution to achieve these goals.
Mentoring Resources
The council is responsible for assessing the needs of our faculty and trainees and creating education courses and pilot programs to cultivate those mentoring skills and competencies. It also is working to maintain a robust hub of mentoring resources for faculty, trainees and staff to reference as they explore or expound on mentoring topics related to navigating careers, scholarship development, grant writing, etc.
Focused DEI Mentoring
Establishing programs that foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is also a priority for the Academic Mentoring Council. The council seeks to understand the unique needs of underrepresented groups across the academic community and uses that information to create additional resources and opportunities to further support them.
Advocacy & Recognition
The Academic Mentoring Council works to elevate the role of mentoring across the institution and foster a culture where mentoring is both recognized and rewarded. The council sponsors the institution's Distinguished Mentoring Faculty Award, which recognizes and celebrates exemplary faculty mentors, and leads other initiatives to further substantiate the importance and impact of mentoring across the academic community.
Our Academic Mentoring Council
About the council
The Academic Mentoring Council comprises representative faculty, staff and trainees from across the institution, including research and clinical areas, MD Anderson UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate Medical Education, postdoctoral research, Leadership Institute, the School of Health Professions and Human Resources.
The council is sponsored by Diane Bodurka, M.D., Chief Education & Training Officer, Carin Hagberg, M.D., Chief Academic Officer; and Julie Izzo, M.D., Executive Director, HR Faculty & Academic Professorships; it also has two operational dyads: Suezen Salinas, Program Manager, Education & Training and Michelle Hildebrandt, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Lymphoma & Myeloma.
Executive Committee
Diane Bodurka, M.D.
Vice President and Chief Education & Training Officer
Carin Hagberg, M.D.
Chief Academic Officer
Julie Izzo, M.D., Executive Director, HR Faculty & Academic Partnerships
Michelle Hildebrandt, Ph.D., Leadership Dyad - Associate Professor, Lymphoma/Myeloma
Suezen Salinas, Leadership Dyad - Program Manager, Education & Training
Anne Tsao, M.D., VP, Faculty & Academic Affairs
Christopher Flowers, M.D., Division Head, Cancer Medicine ad interim, Chair, Lymphoma/Myeloma
Liz Travis, M.D., AVP, Faculty Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Mark Chambers, D.M.D., Professor, Head & Neck Surgery
Prajnan Das, M.D., MPH, Professor, Radiation Oncology
Robert Bast, M.D., Ph.D., VP, Translational Research
Ann Killary, Ph.D., Professor, Translational Molecular Pathology
Paolo Mangahas, Ph.D., Director, Education & Training
Raquel Salinas, Ph.D., Director, Student Affairs & Career Development GSBS
Courtney Holladay, Ph.D., AVP, Leadership Institute
Working Groups
Michelle Hildebrandt, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Lymphoma/Myeloma
Suezen Salinas, Program Manager, Education & Training
Paolo Mangahas, Ph.D., Director, Education & Training
Carrie Cameron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Behavioral Science
Julianne Pollard-Larkin, M.D., Associate Professor, Radiation Physics
Clifton Dave Fuller, M.D., Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology
Jillian Gunther, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology
Pam Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, GU Medical Oncology
Raghu Kalluri, Ph.D., Professor, Cancer Biology
Mabel Perez Oquendo, GSBS Graduate Student Association President
Diana Machado, GSBS Association of Minority Biomedical Researchers President
Didem Ağaç Çobanoğlu, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Association Executive Committee Co-Chair
Jezreel Pantaleon Garcia, M.D., Postdoctoral Association Executive Committee Co-Chair
Travor Hart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Timothy Yap, MBBS, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Investigational Cancer Therapeutics
Sherezade Mama, Dr.P.H., Assistant Professor, Health Disparities Research
George Eisenhoffer, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Genetics
Ziba Rahbar, M.D., MPH, House Staff Senate Representative
Sarah Lumsden, M.D., House Staff Senate Representative
Suhendan Ekmekcioglu, Ph.D., Professor, Melanoma Medical Oncology
Melody Becnel, M.D., Assistant Professor, Lymphoma/Myeloma
Mediget Teshome, M.D., Associate Professor, Breast Surgical Oncology
Jessica McCann, Leadership Institute representative
Mary Sizemore, Ph.D., Director, Education Development and Innovation