For Richard Smith, MD, mentorship begins with opportunity — and the freedom to explore it.

As a physician-scientist, researcher, educator, and leader at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Smith has spent his career making discoveries that advance understanding of genetic hearing loss and rare complement-mediated kidney diseases. But for the people he mentors, his impact reaches well beyond the science.

Smith, the Sterba Hearing Research Professor and vice chair of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, is the founding director of the Molecular Otolaryngology and Renal Research Laboratories (MORL) and the Iowa Institute of Human Genetics. Through those roles, he has built environments where trainees at every stage can learn, grow, connect with one another and discover what kind of careers and lives will fulfill them.

That lifelong commitment to helping others grow has earned Smith the 2026 Distinguished Mentor Award.

A culture of opportunity

At MORL, mentorship is woven into the way the laboratory operates.

Smith uses a team-based approach, working closely with team leaders who, in turn, mentor the members of their teams. The result, he says, is a culture of service and helping others that extends throughout the laboratory.

But mentorship also happens outside formal meetings. Friday lunches bring the lab together to celebrate accomplishments and spend time talking about life beyond science. Visiting researchers bring new perspectives and opportunities to exchange ideas. And through the lab’s outreach to families affected by rare diseases, trainees can see firsthand the people their research is intended to help.

For Smith, those connections matter.

“Part of mentorship is having fun,” he says. “Part of mentorship is celebrating achievements in and outside the lab.”

His philosophy is perhaps best captured by the way he describes a research environment: a giant sandbox filled with opportunities to explore.

His role, he says, is similar to that of a playground supervisor. He wants to make sure people have opportunities and resources available to them, but he doesn’t want to micromanage their experiences.

“I want you to explore them and have the setbacks, but also have the successes,” Smith says.

That independence is intentional. Smith believes a discovery made through someone’s own curiosity and initiative can be even more meaningful than one made by following step-by-step instructions.

“There’s not a single right style for mentorship,” he says. “Everybody has their own style and their own way to do it.”

Smith adds that his approach changes depending on where a mentee is in their personal and professional journey.

“An undergraduate who is exploring research for the first time has different needs than a graduate student choosing a thesis laboratory or a postdoctoral scholar considering an independent career,” he notes. “For some, the next step may be a PhD or leading a laboratory. For others, it may be teaching, industry, clinical work, or a different path entirely.”

Beyond science

For all the scientific accomplishments associated with Smith’s career, the accomplishments of the people he has mentored are what brings him the greatest sense of pride. Not because they necessarily follow in his footsteps or achieve a particular title, but because they find a path that makes them fulfilled both professionally and personally.

That perspective reflects his belief that mentorship should not be about molding someone into a copy of the mentor. Instead, it is about helping each person discover what they value and giving them the confidence and opportunity to pursue it.

And there is one lesson Smith hopes extends beyond the laboratory, clinic, or classroom.

“Be kind,” he says. “Be kind, be generous, be thoughtful, and be courteous.”

Those values are at the center of Smith’s approach to mentorship. And he believes the best mentoring relationships are never entirely one-way.

“Everybody who I mentor, in a sense, is mentoring me too,” he says.

Through an ongoing exchange of ideas, questions, and experiences, Smith creates opportunities for both mentor and mentee to continue learning, growing, and discovering new possibilities.