Mentorship Matters

Nicole Coufal Recognized with NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship

“Successful science requires a mix - a great idea, strong experimental design, resources, and a bit of luck - but mentorship is the glue that mixes all those pieces together and makes them cohere”

~ Nicole Coufal, M.D., Ph.D.

Spend any time with Nicole Coufal, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and assistant director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, and you will understand her commitment and passion for mentoring students at all levels of their careers.

That dedication to teaching and supporting others was recognized when the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) named Coufal a 2024 NINDS Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship recipient. One of five awardees across the nation, Coufal was honored for showing dedication to superior mentorship and rigorous scientific training in neuroscience research.

“The Landis Awards is a tremendous honor,” said Coufal. “It is an award based almost entirely on how my trainees viewed me as a mentor which is why I find it so meaningful.”

Coufal notes that the balance needed to be a successful woman physician scientist is not easy. The combination of science, scientific mentorship, clinical work, physician-scientist mentorship, and being an involved mother to three young boys can be daunting.

“I know that sometimes I feel stretched extremely thin and always want to be sure that I have the time my trainees need to help them become successful scientists themselves,” she said. “To me, receiving this award underscores that I have had some solid success in helping to train the next generation of scientists even through my chaos. I feel grateful and quite humbled that my trainees nominated me for this and that I was selected.”

It’s hard to find any shortcomings when looking at Coufal’s successes. The LANDIS Award committee noted her exceptional contributions to mentoring, demonstrable dedication to diversity and inclusion, and the notable impact she has had on her trainees.

“It was clear from the letters written by your trainees that they consider their success to be in part due to your mentorship,” wrote Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D. director of the NINDS, in an email. “In addition, their comments reflected that they gained a deep appreciation of the value of good mentorship in a way that will no doubt influence many of them to become outstanding mentors themselves.”

As part of the award, Coufal will receive a $100,000 grant which will be used to further support trainee conference attendance, additional bioinformatics training for trainees and underserved undergraduates who are spending time in the lab to fund their research time and enable their entry into science.