by Ariel Myatt, MS, AWIS Philadelphia Chapter Membership Chair

I have been attending the AWIS Philadelphia Chapter’s Annual Awards Dinner nearly every year since I first began as a mentee in their mentoring circle. Each year, the board selects an exceptional woman in STEM from a list of nominees to be awarded our Elizabeth Brigham Award for Mentoring. The recipient then shares a presentation, often focused on their mentoring philosophy or personal mentoring journey.

This year’s honoree was Dr. Jaimie Dougherty from the School of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University. Dr. Dougherty is a teaching professor and faculty liaison for the Drexel Biomed Alumni Network. She also leads a mentoring program/course called “Building Careers in Pharmaceutical Science (BMES)” which connects biomedical engineering students with mentors at Merck.

Her presentation, “Balancing My Three Lives Through the Lens of Mentorship,” explored how mentoring has shaped her career, teaching, and personal life. She began by sharing her story as a young student who received a cardiac pacemaker at age 12. Despite that challenge, she remained deeply involved in soccer, orchestra, spring musicals, Model UN, and Youth and Government while graduating as valedictorian.

As someone who was very much a B+ student, this wasn’t very relatable to me, but then she spoke on how she got into Rutgers and began as an “undecided” major. It was comforting to think that even someone who seemed so brilliant and prepared for adult life could also have a moment where they were not sure what to do with all that brilliance. She later found her place in biomedical engineering and pursued her PhD at Drexel University, where she still teaches today.

She then spoke about her mentor at Drexel, Dr. Karen Moxon, whom she met while she was a PostDoc in Dr. Monxon’s Neuroengineering lab. This was when Dr. Dougherty began teaching students and discovered her love for setting her students up for success. Dr. Moxon helped her to find her place in the scientific world, and another mentor, Dr. Karen Kabnick (yes, she pointed out the trend here with “Karens”) helped her develop her teaching and mentoring style.

Dr. Dougherty’s teaching style emphasizes building competence, confidence, and independence in her students. One of her goals is to see her students achieve more than she did at their age and considers that a measure of her own success. She also emphasized collaboration and accountability when balancing the demands of being a scientist, student, and human being.

Dr. Dougherty shared an example that involved a student requesting an extension on an assignment. She was willing to grant extensions when needed, provided there was an understanding that the situation could not become a recurring pattern. Her goal was to teach students that life sometimes gets in the way of school, while helping them develop the skills necessary to balance both without burning out.

As someone who is working on finding my place in life, this presentation really spoke to me. I’m in my thirties, recently diagnosed with ADHD, a research administrator at a busy non-profit hospital, and an activist. I am a Co-Executive leader for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) PRIDE Employee Resource Group, the Membership Chair for my local AWIS chapter, serve as a mentor in the chapter’s Mentorship program, and now I’m also planning my wedding. Recently I have been trying to balance advocating for what I care about while also maintaining an identity outside of that. It sometimes feels like giving attention to one project means letting down another.

Dr. Dougherty is an excellent example of why this award was created. Her presentation on finding balance as a mentor by understanding how there are many ways to be a “mentor” inspired me. Sometimes mentorship is simply showing up, listening, and being a compassionate, safe person in someone else’s life. I can definitely see myself managing that style of mentorship when I’m feeling especially stretched.

The Philadelphia Chapter offers programs and resources to provide networking, mentoring and leadership opportunities for women in STEM at all levels of their careers and education. Visit https://awisphl.org/ to learn more.