Global health mentorship today: Don Operario, PhD
July/August 2024 | Volume 23 Number 4
Photo courtesy of Don Operario
Don Operario, PhD
Don Operario is professor and chair, Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health.
I was always interested in human behavior as it naturally occurs among people in their social, cultural, historical, political environments, and I was also interested in social psychology as a way to understand myself. I grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s, a transformative period in the history of public health as HIV evolved. I've been fortunate to make a career doing what inspired me in young adulthood. My Fogarty project, Stigma Reduction and Gender Affirmation to Promote HIV Prevention/Testing in Trans Women, is a collaboration with the University of the Philippines, Manila. This is a country that has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics globally, so it's trying, quickly, to rally resources, expertise, and research to respond to this epidemic. Our award helps us train colleagues in Manila to develop and build HIV research capacities and studies, while using mobile technology to support the HIV prevention needs of transgender women in the metro Manila area and throughout the Philippines.
Mentorship is one of the most important components of having a career… and not always easy to come by. It’s bidirectional, a true collaboration. As a mentor, I must have awareness and sensitivity toward a mentee—their personal circumstance as well as geographic, cultural, economic, and social conditions that shape their professional development opportunities. I take my lead from mentees, while putting effort into learning about them and asking critical questions to get a fuller picture.
My one mantra is:
You have to find success on your own terms. Don't let other people—your mentors, advisors, institutions—define success for you. Success is based on what's personally relevant, rewarding, what’s needed to survive, maybe what family or a person’s institution and society need… but always based on an individual’s conscience.
I didn't come from a family where I could have conversations about career or academic goals, so I relied on people who were willing to take me aside and give me the information that was never written out in a textbook or syllabus. A lot of career navigation is just that—navigating and figuring out how one's identity and positionality and just personhood can be made relevant and can be used as the fundamental premise for having impact institutionally or in a field. I learned that from people who were willing to tell me their stories. I was fortunate those people presented themselves to me, but I also had a strong appetite for listening to their stories and was willing to take suggestions. (Not every suggestion—I learned to be discerning.)
The older I get, the more I need mentors. A lot of the people who are my mentors… it kind of just happened, it was only after the relationship developed that I noted,
Oh—that person's been really kind and generous and helpful. Also, mentorship doesn't have to be all consuming; a person can be a mentor in certain episodic or situational ways. Be open to finding mentors where you don't expect them.
As a mentor, I can't assume that the resources and the opportunities open to me are universal. And I have to be cautious that we don't replicate or reinforce any bad histories that preceded us, while at the same time holding ourselves accountable to setting goals, having high expectations, and hoping for progress. Gender, among every aspect of what a person brings, is important. I personally feel comfortable mentoring women and different expressions of self. Most of the research I do is with LGBTQ populations and especially with trans populations, so that's a joy. Anything I publish is going to be outdated in five years, but those I mentor are going to affect me (and maybe I will affect them) for the long haul. I'm grateful to be a champion, a cheerleader, and part of the support system for those early and emerging scholars.
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Updated August 14, 2024
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