She has mentored 19 trainees now in faculty positions, and 10 in top leadership positions, including directors of research institutes, academic deans, educational directors, and officers in SMPC. She has also actively supported over a dozen trainees’ success in industry career paths, and founded two Canada-wide research training networks that allow her students to regularly attend skills development workshops, participate in lab exchanges, and attend networking events with academic and industry partners. Lastly, she’s also been a valued mentor for junior faculty and faculty at all stages.

Her nominating trainees have glowing things to say about her mentorship, so again I’ll share a few quotes:

• “I think of her mentoring style as seeing the full potential in her students and encouraging us to step out of our comfort zone”.

• “She shows an extraordinary level of commitment to every student she works with, regardless of their background or characteristics. She inspired me, as an LGBT person, to not give up on my career goals just because I sometimes felt that I was different from other people.”

• “Her dedication to mentorship – both through close supervision within her own lab and through founding of Canada-wide training networks – her high standard of excellence, and efforts to create a scientific community for her mentees, make her undoubtedly deserving of SMPC’s mentorship award. I only hope that I can have such a lasting positive impact on my own future mentees.”

• “When I realized that I did not want to do a post-doc or lengthy academic job search, she cared for me as a person, and supported me in my job search.”

• “The lessons she taught me continue to resonate and have helped me become the teacher and employer I am today.”

•  “She always made me feel valued, and inspired me to do both good science, and good music. Anyone given the chance to learn from her can consider themselves incredibly lucky.”

Congratulations to the Senior Mentorship Award recipient, Caroline Palmer!

• As read by Adena Schachner at the 2022 SMPC Meeting