ECU faculty member awarded national ‘Outstanding Mentor of the Year’ honor
Dr. Danielle Walsh, associate professor of surgery at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine and the director of the surgery residency program at ECU and Vidant Medical Center, was recently awarded the first Outstanding Mentor of the Year award by the Resident and Associate Society of the American College of Surgeons.
The award was established to recognize an American College of Surgeons fellow who effectively engaged with residents and provided support essential for the residents to develop a sustainable foundation for a surgical career.
Dr. Danielle Walsh (ECU file photo)
Walsh said this award highlights the importance of sitting down, talking to somebody and making connections even if it’s not an “official” part of the job description.
“I think that part of becoming a good mentor is understanding how to connect people and I think one of the things about ECU and Vidant is that the culture is one of inclusiveness and desire for everyone to succeed,” Walsh said.
Walsh said she enjoys helping mentees who are interested in specialty areas where she has existing connections. She also pays close attention to their responses to these opportunities, along with the steps they have taken on a local level, before giving them opportunities on a national stage.
Walsh said she initially did not want to become a surgeon because she knew what she wanted from work-life balance. But her first night in an operating room, during her third year of medical school, revealed to her that she “didn’t want to be anywhere else.”
“I think that final component that moved me to it is that my sister had a pediatric surgical problem, a cancer called neuroblastoma, as a child and I watched her survive it,” she said. “I watched her live and grow, and I recognized the impact that a surgeon can have on, not only their child, but the whole family.”
While Walsh has received many awards throughout her career as a pediatric surgeon, she said her most memorable professional achievements were being able to see her patients and students succeed.
“I think that a servant leader is somebody who is willing to do some of the difficult leg work so that someone else can benefit,” Walsh said. “I’m willing to do that because their career and their need to become the next generation of leaders is really important to me.”
Walsh also testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 6th, 2019 about increased cancer risk with patients living near Ethylene Oxide-producing plants.
“It was a little nerve-racking,” she said. “I can impact hundreds of thousands of people with one speech or collaboration with FDA in a way that’s very different from the one-on-one relationship that I can have with a single patient in an operating room, but both are very important.”
-by Janiya Winchester