Society for Pediatric Research recognizes one academic pediatrician annually with the Maureen Andrew Mentor Award
By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org
The national Maureen Andrew Mentor Award recognizes one academic pediatrician annually for a remarkable record of mentorship and leadership. “The Maureen Andrew Mentor Award honors the contributions of Dr. Maureen Andrew to the field of child health research,” according to the Society for Pediatric Research, the organization that gives out this award. “The award recognizes outstanding mentor leadership that generates excitement, creativity, and scholarships leading to outstanding research and teaching.”
This year, Dr. Nathan Kuppermann, the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine who trained as a pediatric emergency physician at UC Davis Health, received the Maureen Andrew Mentor Award for his impact on countless students and mentees in the field of pediatric research.
“I will tell you that I have won other awards in my career, but this is perhaps one of the most meaningful because this one is around mentorship,” Kuppermann said. “I have received good mentorship from my mentors and this is the way that we pay it forward. The award nomination was initiated by a group of my mentees, so it’s particularly meaningful because I feel like the most lasting impact that I can have is to train a new generation of individuals to help kind of push the science forward so we can continue to take better care of ill and injured children.”
Throughout his career, Kuppermann has mentored many students, faculty, residents and fellows at the UC Davis Medical Center, and, on top of his mentorship, his leadership led to the creation of many national organizations to advance pediatric research and health care. Some of the few national organizations he helped create include Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network and the Clinical Research on Emergency Services and Treatments Network of Kaiser Permanente.
Dr. Leah Tzimenatos, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and vice chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Health, described how Kuppermann stands out as an academic pediatrician.
“I was really excited for him when I heard the news, and honestly I was not very surprised,” Tzimenatos said. “[Dr. Kuppermann] is a very phenomenal mentor, and there are a number of things that make him stand out, but a couple of them are just the sheer number of successful professionals in the field of pediatric medicine that he has mentored over the years. He mentors everyone from medical students to residents to fellows, kind of through the breadth of training and then has a number of faculty mentees as well, and he is truly committed to each one of his mentees.”
Aside from being a recipient of the Maureen Andrew Mentor Award, Kuppermann has underscored the importance of his philosophy and values as a pediatric researcher and mentor in leaving behind a lasting legacy on his mentees entering the medical field. This could not have been done without guidance from his very own mentor at Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Gary Fleisher, an important figure in Kuppermann’s life who taught him how to approach pediatric research.
“In terms of what this award means to me is that, rather than awards that recognize a single accomplishment or a single research study, this is just more meaningful to me because it really reflects a career of trying to kind of give it back and, again, to pay it forward,” Kuppermann said. “I want to make sure and I expect my mentees to do bigger and better things than I have done. This award is more of a philosophy of life, rather than an individual research award, that on the inside is very meaningful to me.”
Written by: Brandon Nguyen — science@theaggie.org
