Mentoring with Meaning: Dr. Nicole Torres on Inspiring Future Physicians
This fall, our longitudinal clinical educators (LCEs) share their experiences mentoring the next generation of physicians at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
The passage of time is a crucial element of satisfaction for Nicole Torres, M.D., assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Caring for patients over the course of their young lives feeds her passion and inspiration in medicine. Dr. Torres finds fulfillment in helping set trajectories of success for students by mentoring aspiring physicians as a Miller School longitudinal clinical educator.
Learn more about her strategies for finding balance as a physician and her advice to medical students in the interview below, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to become a physician and what keeps you inspired?
Since I was 17, I have been intrigued by the medical field. Today, my patients are my inspiration. I get to cultivate relationships with families and children during the most formative years of their lives. I want to be there for their next significant milestone—first steps, graduations and dreams realized. It really is such a privilege to be a pediatrician.
What led you to become a longitudinal clinical educator?
I was ready to pivot from graduate medical education, where I served as an associate program director for the pediatrics residency for about seven years, to undergraduate medical education. I still appreciated the uniqueness of this role in education. When the opportunity to become an LCE presented itself, I said yes immediately. It distills what I love most about academic medicine—mentoring and clinical teaching.
You have your whole life to become the doctor you envisioned. Use these next four years to build a strong foundation in medical knowledge and gain clinical skills and sound clinical reasoning. Most importantly, let this time deepen your love for patient care.
Dr. Nicole Torres
How do you maintain balance between clinical duties, teaching and life outside of medicine?
That starts with knowing your limits, values and recognizing when to say no, because overcommitting in any one area inevitably leads to dissatisfaction in others. Early in my career, I said yes to everything. It was the advice I was given as a new physician. Yes to every project and to serving on an evening committee, but also yes to the Saturday 9 a.m. youth sports commitment.
I quickly learned that saying yes to everything meant saying no to rest and presence in the parts of life that mattered most. That, and letting go of any guilt about making the right decisions for myself—that’s key.
How has mentoring medical students enriched your clinical work?
I am reminded how much I still don’t know. My motto is, “That’s a great question. Let’s look it up and learn something together.” Students keep me curious, engaged and maybe even youthful.
What advice do you always give to your students and what advice do you wish you’d gotten as a student?
The LCE role is unique. I had an amazing clinical mentor, Dr. Rios, who always said, “The patient always has an agenda.” I pass that along all the time. But I did not really have a mentor in the thick of the most difficult times in the beginning.
My current advice to students is you have your whole life to become the doctor you envisioned. Use these next four years to build a strong foundation in medical knowledge and gain clinical skills and sound clinical reasoning. Most importantly, let this time deepen your love for patient care.
Residency is where you train for a specialty. Medical school is where you’re educated and shaped into a well-rounded physician to enter the profession on solid ground. Med school can feel like social media. While everyone appears to have it all figured out, they often don’t. It’s okay not to know your specialty yet. You are not behind. Don’t buy into the noise or compare your journey to others.
What excites you about the future of medicine and how do you see today’s students shaping it?
They are hungry to innovate. I am in awe of the ideas and solutions students generate to fill gaps in medical/clinical knowledge or solve a problem. They are tenacious and incredibly bright.
Tags: Department of Medical Education, Dr. Nicole Torres, longitudinal clinician educators, medical education, medical students