Reaching out to Mentors with Dr. Simerjot K. Jassal

Simerjot K. Jassal, MD, is the Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at the University of California—San Diego, and practices as a primary care physician at the VA San Diego. Dr. Jassal completed medical school at UCSF school of medicine and residency in internal medicine from UCLA where she was also a chief resident. She has pursued a Master’s in Advanced Studies in Clinical Research from UCSD. Presently, she's a collaborator on the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium, analyzing data from over 2 million people across 40 countries. She is also a co-investigator on the Rancho Bernardo Study, a 40 year observational study of the differences in men and women in heart disease and diabetes. She has won numerous awards over the years, including teacher of the year from the American College of Physicians, Southern California and Spirit of Planetree physician champion of the year from the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Dr. Simerjot K. Jassal learned the power of persistence—and reaching out—when in junior high school she sent several letters to people in space medicine asking how she could become an astronaut and a physician. When she realized there was plenty of medicine to practice here on planet earth, she pivoted to applying to medical school. As a freshman in college, she wrote to chairs of various departments at University of California—San Diego asking to join a research project. Her determination resulted in her meeting one of her most important mentors. Today, Dr. Jassal explains how we too can be fearless in reaching out to mentors for guidance. She reassures us that what we lack in experience and skillset, we can make up for through our enthusiasm, our desire to learn and grow, and our willingness to work hard. Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Be fearless in reaching out to mentors. Don’t count the rejections, count the one person that says yes. And be willing to put as much effort in as need to get that yes. 2. What you lack in experience, make up for it by building credibility: As a mentee, prove that you have enthusiasm, the desire to learn and grow, and the willingness to work hard. 3. Our decisions have to be in line with our values. Trust what you want to achieve in life, even if it means disappointing others. 4. We will find our best mentorship from our peers. And those peers will also be our best friends throughout this journey. So pay attention to that and try to get the most out of it, because it’s a limited time experience.