VCU’s Teresa L. Knott, has been selected as a mentor  in the 2017-2018 NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and the Association of Academic Health Science Libraries. Knott is an associate university librarian and the director of Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences. She participated in the program as a fellow in 2005-06. As a mentor, she will work with fellow Philip D. Walker, interim ‌director at Vanderbilt University's Eskind Biomedical Library.

This prestigious national leadership development program is designed to prepare emerging leaders 

for director positions in academic health sciences libraries. Fellows participate in a year-long mentoring relationship with a director of another library and study a curriculum focused on developing knowledge critical to enhancing the value of libraries in their institutions.

Program participants laud the fellowship’s lasting impact on their careers and knowledge base. Said Knott: “The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program afforded me a remarkable opportunity to learn from accomplished health science library directors, from a cohort of talented contemporaries, and leaders from key stakeholder organizations, such as the Director of the National Library of Medicine, about issues, challenges, and opportunities in the field of health sciences librarianship and working in complex academic health sciences center organizations.”

“The knowledge and skills I acquired in the program helped build a solid foundation to succeed as a director. The relationships formed during the program and with new fellows and mentors in other cohorts provides a community of practice, an incredibly robust resource for anyone in a leadership position.

In this highly competitive program, Knott will serve as one of five mentors from academic health sciences libraries across the U.S. who will begin their work together with their fellows in November. Since the program began in 2002, 49 percent of fellow graduates have assumed director positions.  More information about the program is online.