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Resources for finding potential mentors

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Resources for Finding Potential Mentors

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Does your potential mentor have an appointment in the Graduate School?
Check their website listing, under Biography, there should be a section entitled “Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas”; all GS faculty have appointments in a primary and usually secondary MTA; if there is no listing, ask the mentor (the website may not be updated); if they are not GS faculty, they should contact the GS, suzanne.small@mssm.edu to set up an appointment to meet with the Dean, Dr. Marta Filizola).
Ask questions to current lab members (+ lab neighbors who can be more subjective)
Ask about weekends / vacations to understand how they approached work/life balance
Ask about how projects are given to students. Think about whether you want a more “focused” project, or venture into the unknown.
Ask about the expectations from a PhD (number of papers, etc.)
Make sure that they know what being an MD/PhD student entails (eg timeline)
Ask about how much you would be meeting one-on-one

"What are your strengths? What would you want to work on?"
"What do lab members do to balance their work and life? How do you enable this? "
“What will happen to me if funding isn't available? How long can you guarantee my funding?
"What is one time someone has failed, and how did they react?"
"How much time is given to each person each month? Who decides this scheduling?"
"If you could create the perfect lab, what aspects of this one would you include?"