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08/03/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/03/2026 11:14

BU’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Matches Mentees & Mentors

BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Matches Mentees & Mentors

Pairing the right student with the right faculty member is key to career success

Isabelle Joy (CAS'21, CAMED'24,'28) discusses a project in the lab of her mentor Thomas Clarke,an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Photos by Mike Cohea.

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BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Matches Mentees & Mentors

Pairing the right student with the right faculty member is key to career success

August 3, 2026
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When she entered the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, second-year medical student Isabelle Joy (CAS'21, CAMED'24,'28) wanted to continue working in research as she had done as a BU undergrad. She discovered that her interest in molecular biology matched nicely with the school's Clarke Laboratory's focus on the mechanisms of DNA repair.

But it was the mentoring style of Thomas Clarke, an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the school, that sealed the deal.

"If you invest the time teaching, training, and mentoring and create a supportive environment, people are more likely to stay in your lab and that longevity is really important because they can learn techniques, learn the research, and really understand the projects they're working on," Clarke says.

While research labs often bear a single person's name, teamwork is the engine driving the research. An important part of that support structure is the mentor-mentee relationship.

"I think investing the time to mentor and train people moves the science along quicker," Clarke says.

Mentoring styles differ widely from pair to pair. "Matchmaking" is the word Matthew Layne, assistant dean of research and director of the Medical Student Research program, uses to describe the process of pairing students with labs and mentors.

Mentors need to recruit students who will pair well with them and other team members working in labs or in public health or translational and data sciences, while students seek a relationship that matches their work style and will give them the tools to succeed in their future careers. That is particularly critical for PhD students who spend most of their time doing hands-on research and relatively little time in the classroom.

"When students come in the first year, they are often undifferentiated. They don't know which lab or program they're going to go into," notes Christopher Gabel, an associate professor of pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and director of the Program in Biomedical Sciences (PIBS) at the medical school. The average PhD student takes five and a half years to complete their degree. In the first year, they are in the PIBS, taking courses and doing three seven-week rotations in labs they select.

In the second year, they choose a specialty and a lab, take a few more courses, and finish with a qualifying exam.

"For the rest of their time, the focus is on research," Gabel says. "In the matching process, we definitely emphasize that students make sure that the mentee-mentor relationship is ideal, because how well that relationship works is where the rubber meets the road. Students do the best when there's a really good match."

Students engaged in research, whether as medical, graduate, or PhD students, need mentors to direct the research, secure the funding that pays them for their work, and show them how a professional lab works; many mentors also provide career advice and sponsorship.

"There's so much more involved in flourishing and staying in research than the knowledge base. There's also a lot of practical knowledge, and part of your toolbox in being a mentor is career building," says Natalia Morone, an associate professor of medicine.

She is deeply involved in mentorship at the school and runs "Mentoring the Mentors," an annual case-based seminar for faculty.

"I do think the assumption that you can mentor just because you've been mentored is a fallacy," Morone says. "I think the reason the program is so well-received by the people who go through it is that it's very helpful to talk through cases with other people to see how they would handle it."

Kylie Tang (CAS'24,CAMED'28) with her mentor Daniel Roh, assistant professor of plastic surgery and dermatology at BU's Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

Second-year medical student Kylie Tang (CAS'24, CAMED'28) worked in a lab throughout her undergraduate years at BU and decided to continue doing research as a medical student in the lab of Daniel Roh, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the medical school.

Tang's first lab experience as an undergraduate involved developing research skills and building strong relationships in the lab. As a medical student, she found she appreciated Roh's approach that considers the interests and needs of the mentee. She recalled a time in the lab when Roh, who knew she wanted to become a surgeon, took the time to show her how to suture.

"I had never had a spontaneous moment when a mentor remembered what I was interested in and then took it upon himself to further my interests," she says. Roh, an assistant professor of surgery and dermatology, encouraged her to make a presentation to residents at Boston Medical Center and critiqued her presentations at the 2025 Evans Days poster competition, where she took third place in the basic science category, and at the 2026 Medical Student Research Symposium, where she won a Serchuck Poster award.

Tang was impressed by Roh's enthusiasm for science and research, as well as his work ethic. "I think, in his mind, research is not work; it's something he enjoys, and I really want to have that enjoyment in my future too," Tang says.

Both Joy and Tang participate in the medical school's Learn, Experience, Advocate, Discover and Serve (LEADS) research track. Joy was also supported by the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation for the Medical Student Summer Research Program and placed first in the basic science category at the 2025 Evans Days poster contest. Clarke envisions having her own lab eventually, something she never thought possible.

"This is a great opportunity to see if that's something I would even want to do," says Joy. "Professor Roh is helping me to think about long-term ideas I hadn't even considered."

Faculty mentors say they get as much from the relationship as their mentees do.

"There's a certain amount of idealism when you mentor; it feels very satisfying to see people succeed, whether that's in publications, or when they get grants and start getting recognition and leadership positions," Morone says. "It's very, very satisfying."

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Boston University published this content on August 03, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on August 03, 2026 at 17:14 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]