’s has received the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research’s (SPER) Mentoring Award.
SPER is an international organization of individuals from a wide variety of disciplines who share a common interest: the epidemiology of pregnancy, infancy and childhood. Kirby received the award at the group’s annual meeting in June.
“SPER is comprised of my academic and professional peers, and to be recognized by this organization for my mentorship is a very special honor. To hear how colleagues, students and mentees benefitted from my guidance and interactions with me over many years demonstrates that my work has been worthwhile and has had a positive impact on our field,” Kirby said. “I was very honored to have been selected for this award and hope that my experience as a mentor might serve as a model for others.”
Nominees for the prestigious award were evaluated based on proficiency in mentoring skills, dedication to mentoring and attention to advisee development technically, professionally and personally in the field.
Kirby was nominated by one of his mentees, , associate professor and three-time ±«Óătv alumnus.
“Russ is a selfless, motivational and engaged mentor to students and professionals at various career stages. His mentorship is impactful, often lifelong if the mentee is open to it,” Salemi said in his nomination materials. “You can tell that he loves and embraces this aspect of his profession. It’s not just been mentorship that helped guide me through to graduation–it’s been 16 years serving as an “always available” trusted resource with boatloads of experience and advice, impacting the most critical points of my career. I owe him a great deal, though he’ll never expect anything from me except to embrace those same characteristics as I pay it forward to my students and junior colleagues.”
Regarding his mentoring, Kirby said he has tried to emulate best practices in working with others and hopes that their experiences working with him inspire others to pass it on to their own mentees to improve the public health profession, which in turn will have positive impacts on the population’s health.
“Mentoring is a way of inspiring others to do their best work, make the best choices in career decisions and serving as a support to others at whatever stage and throughout their careers,” Kirby said. “While it does take time and often requires careful consideration, the time is very well spent and adds to one’s personal influence and visibility in their profession.”
“I do not know anyone who talks to our faculty about the importance of mentorship more than Russ,” Salemi added. “He’s left a legacy of people who have valued greatly his own mentorship that they, too, have learned to be effective mentors themselves.”