Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Doctoral Students

The Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Doctoral Students Award is presented each Spring at the May Doctoral Hooding and Commencement Ceremony.  This award honors one-on-one mentoring of doctoral students through the direction of a dissertation and supervision of students’ research.  All members of the graduate faculty who mentor doctoral students to the completion of the degree are eligible to be nominated by their chair, colleagues, or graduate students.

John Pierce Wise, Sr. is a Professor and a Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, providing mentorship to trainees at all levels. He arrived at the University of Louisville in 2014 after serving on the faculty of Yale University’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health and the University of Southern Maine. He holds a B.S. with distinction and with recognition in biology from George Mason University, and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from George Washington University. His postdoctoral training focused on molecular epidemiology at the National Cancer Institute, followed by training in occupational health and risk assessment as a senior toxicologist at Jonathan Borak and Company. He earned a prestigious eight-year Revolutionizing Innovative, Visionary Environmental Health Research (RIVER) R35 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). He is the recipient of four awards for Mentoring, Education, Science Communication and Career Achievement in Metals from the world’s preeminent toxicology society, Society of Toxicology (SOT) and is being honored and featured at the SOT annual meeting as a thought leader in toxicology with a short movie about his laboratory. He is also the recipient of the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society’s Education award.

Dr. Wise has mentored over 250 graduate, medical, undergraduate and high school students, as well as postdoctoral trainees and faculty—and many of them wrote letters of support for him.  Here is one representative claim about his mentorship from a current graduate: “The growth that I have experienced in five years as a scientist and the successes I have experienced while being in the Wise Lab could not have happened without his unmatched mentorship….My experience in his lab is not just unique to me, but many students who have previously graduated had extremely successful records of publications, awards, and honors.  I think John is an amazing mentor who knows exactly how to guide students in a supportive, inclusive, and compassionate way.  He is an outstanding mentor to me and many others.”  Another letter writer notes that “Dr. Wise’s commitment to his mentees does not end with graduation; he ensures that we are well-prepared for successful careers, reinforcing his lifelong commitment to mentorship.  His exceptional ability to guide students to successful completion of their degrees and place them in competitive career positions speaks volumes about his impact.”