My long-time friend Mark Loehrke, MD, FACP, recently celebrated his 32nd year in academic medicine; to say he has a passion for teaching internal medicine is an understatement. In this episode, we discuss the importance of mentorship and the impact of COVID-19 on education, and Loehrke shares a phrase that’s motivated him throughout his career.

• Intro :14
• About Loehrke :25
• Jain’s history with Loehrke 2:34
• The interview 3:35
• How did you find yourself drawn to medical education? 4:22
• Loehrke’s anecdote on the conversation that changed the course of his career 8:50
• The importance of building good relationships between mentor and mentee 16:45
• Have you found that’s a challenge — talking to other people who are either trying to find mentors or trying to find mentees, or trying to establish these relationships? 20:25
• Bridging the generational gap between mentor and mentees 23:35
• How have things changed for you as an educator during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how are you helping students navigate this very odd time that we’re in? 29:33
• I know you do color-coordinated rounds. Can you explain what that is and how did you modify that? 33:55
• Do you think there’s anything positive that’s come out of this pandemic in terms of medical education or anything related to medicine? 36:08
• Trying to find optimism during the pandemic 39:10
• Anecdotes on Loehrke’s height 40:59
• Loehrke’s one pearl 44:09
• How to find Loehrke 46:29

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at [email protected]. Dr. Mark Loehrke can be reached at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter @HemOncToday @ShikhaJainMD

Mark Loehrke, MD, is an associate professor and chair of the department of medicine at Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker School of Medicine.

Disclosures: Jain reports she is a paid freelance writer for Lippincott. Loehrke reports no relevant financial disclosures.