SMA awards: Graduate Mentor Award 2004
I am happy to be here tonight to present the First Annual Society for Medical Anthropology Graduate Student Mentor Award. The Mentor Award was conceived of by previous SMA President Mark Nichter who sought to recognize individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary service in mentoring students through graduate school, the job-seeking process, and beyond. This year’s selection committee included, Sabrina Chase, previous SMA graduate student representative, Catherine Timura, incoming graduate student representative, student members Vickie Ramirez and Jill Owczarzak, and myself. Although they could not be here tonight, I would like to thank all of the committee members for dedicating their time. Nominations for this award were made by students and former students of the nominees who wrote letters describing the ways in which the nominee had served as a mentor to them. We had a pool of outstanding candidates and I was moved by the gratitude and devotion expressed in the student letters. However, one set of nomination letters stood out above the others and reflected the career-long commitment to mentoring that this award seeks to honor. Dr. Joan Ablon is this year’s award recipient. She is Professor Emerita of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco. She is described most aptly by her former students, one of whom wrote:
“Joan is, in equal measures, (com)passionate ethnographer, path-breaking scholar of stigma and disability, committed action anthropologist, and mentor to generations of medical anthropology students, many of whom are now her colleagues in the discipline.”
Another letter described her as:
“…a great friend, a role model: warm, supportive, caring, motherly, a good listener, generous, funny, down to earth, colorful, and with great stories.”
On behalf of the Mentor Award selection committee, I am pleased to present this award to Dr. Joan Ablon.