Fellows Talk About Their Role as Educators

Division of Nephrology

Second-year Nephrology Fellows Daphne Harrington and Atul Bali On Their Role as Educators

Daphne Harrington

“Taking care of patients is an important skill, but influencing and educating those who care for others touches even more lives. During my chief resident year, I realized the impact of teaching medical students and residents, as well as educating patients.

Didactic teaching, when those you are instructing understand a topic or when it really registers with them, is a joy. But teaching at the bedside not only instructs the student or resident but the patient as well and makes them feel part of the educational process.

These days, with all the changes in medicine, many wonder why we go into academic medicine, or even medicine in general. I want to have the kind of impact on others’ lives that my mentors had on mine, throughout medical school, residency, and fellowship.”

Atul Bali

“There seems to be a near-universal discomfort among medical students and residents when dealing with renal pathology. This translates into few residents seeking Nephrology fellowship training. I was no different during my early training years – until I met Dr. Zvi Talor, the archetypal grey-haired, bow-tie-wearing nephrologist. Not only did he teach me the basics of renal disease, but he also managed to awake in me an interest in the subject I never thought I had.

“I’m hoping to “pay it forward” by seeking a career as a clinician educator and helping to bridge the gap between the rising number of patients with kidney disease and a decline in those who are training to care for them. I will consider it an honor if I can inspire someone to consider Nephrology as a career, just as Dr. Talor inspired me.”

– Medicine Matters, October 2013