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Mentoring Resources

A selected list of articles and web resources on topics in mentoring:

Guidance for Mentees and Mentors

Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Zerzan J, Hess H, Schur E, Phillips RS, Rigotti N. Acad Med 84: 140–144 (2009). Journal link; PMID: 19116494
An excellent guide to mentoring from the perspective of the mentee.

Academic mentoring—how to give it and how to get it. Detsky AS, Baerlocher MO. JAMA 297: 2134–6 (2007). Journal link; PMID: 17507350
Succinct guidance for both mentors & mentees.

Defining the ideal qualities of mentorship: a qualitative analysis of the characteristics of outstanding mentors. Cho CS, Ramanan RA, Feldman MD. Am J Med 124: 453–458 (2011). Journal link; PMID: 21531235
Characteristics of effective mentors drawn from nominations for a mentoring award at UCSF.

Nature’s guide for mentors. Lee A, Dennis C, Campbell P. 2007. Nature 447: 791–797 (2007). Journal link; PMID: 17568738
Characteristics of effective mentors drawn from nominations for the Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science; also includes a self-assessment for evaluating your own mentoring abilities.

Evaluating research mentors working in the area of clinical translational science: A review of the literature. Meagher E, Taylor L, Probstfield J, Fleming M. Clin Transl Sci. 2011; 4: 353–358. Journal link; PMID: 22029808
Review the evaluation of mentors with a focus on training new investigators in clinical translational science.

Mentoring in Academic Medicine: General References

Mentoring: what's in a name? Sambunjak D, Marusić A. JAMA 302: 2591–2 (2009). Journal link; PMID: 20009061
An excellent, brief definition of mentoring: includes the division of mentoring into education (coaching), personal (counseling) and professional (sponsorship).

Mentoring in academic medicine: a systematic review. Sambunjak D, Straus SE, Marusić A. JAMA 296: 1103-15 (2006). Journal link; PMID: 16954490
A review of the prevalence of mentorship and its relationship to career development in academic medicine.

A systematic review of qualitative research on the meaning and characteristics of mentoring in academic medicine. Sambunjak D, Straus SE, Marusic A. J Gen Intern Med 25: 72–78 (2010). Journal link; PMID: 19924490
Review of effective practices and barriers to mentoring.

Mentoring at work: developmental relationships in organizational life. Kram KE. Scott, Foresman, Chicago (1985).
Definitive work on mentoring.

Faculty success though mentoring: A guide for mentors, mentees, and leaders. Bland CJ, Taylor AL, Shollen SL, Weber-Main AM, Mulcahy PA. Rowman & Littlefield (2010).
A comprehensive guide to mentoring in academic medicine.

Mentoring translational science investigators. Fleming M, Burnham EL, Huskins WC.JAMA 308: 1981–2 (2012). Journal link; PMID: 23168821
Brief overview of best practices for mentoring programs: although focused on translational science, the recommendations apply broadly (lists references to previous studies by the CTSA Mentoring Work Group).

Mentoring in Academic Medicine: The current state of practice and evidence based alternatives. Fox S, Corrice A: Faculty Forward: Ideas in Practice AAMC. Link.
Summary of mentoring in academic medicine from results of the AAMC Faculty Forward Survey: excellent brief review but lacks reference list. https://www.aamc.org/download/257862/data/mentoring_in_acadmed_current_state.pdf

Mentoring programs for physicians in academic medicine: a systematic review. Kashiwagi DT, Varkey P, Cook DA. Acad Med 88: 1029-37 (2013). Journal link; PMID: 23702518
A comprehensive list and common features of published mentoring programs for physicians.

Functional Mentoring

Functional Mentoring: A Practical Approach With Multilevel Outcomes. Thorndyke LE, Gusic ME, Milner RJ. J Contin Educ Health Prof 28: 157-64 (2008). Journal link; PMID: 18712800
Description of functional mentoring applied to the Penn State Junior Faculty Development Program combined with measurement of program outcomes at multiple levels.

Find a Functional Mentor. Thorndyke LE, Gusic ME, Milner RJ. Academic Physician & Scientist, AAMC, January 2009.
Succinct overview of the process to identify a functional mentor.

Developmental Mentoring Networks

A new mindset on mentoring: creating developmental networks at work. Kram KE, Higgins MC. Sloan Management Review (2009). Link
A brief description of developmental mentoring networks and how to establish your own network.

Reconceptualizing mentoring at work: a developmental network perspective. Higgins MC, Kram KE.Academy of Management Review 26: 264–288 (2001). Journal link
Theory and concept of developmental mentoring networks.

Exercise: creating developmental networks. Mentoring Toolkit and Curriculum.Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
This exercise (link) is based on the Developmental Network Model by Kathy Kram and takes you through the process of creating your own developmental network chart and map using templates and samples as guides.

Mentor networks in academic medicine: moving beyond a dyadic conception of mentoring for junior faculty researchers. DeCastro R, Sambuco D, Ubel PA, Stewart A, Jagsi R. 2013. Acad Med 88: 488-496 (2013). Journal Link; PMID: 23425990
A qualitative study that provides evidence for the effectiveness of mentoring networks over pairs.

Peer Mentoring

The positive impact of a facilitated peer mentoring program on academic skills of women faculty. Varkey P, Jatoi A, Williams A, Mayer A, Ko M, Files J, Blair J, Hayes S. BMC Med Educ 12:14 (2012). Journal Link; PMID: 22439908
Description and evaluation of a peer mentoring program.

Facilitated peer-mentorship: the challenges faced by facilitator mentors. Blair JE, Mayer AP, Ko MG, Files JA. Clinical Teacher 5: 133–137 (2008). Journal link.
Characteristics of effective facilitators in a peer mentoring group.

Mentoring faculty in academic medicine. A new paradigm? Pololi L, Knight S. J Gen Intern Med 20: 866–870 (2005). Journal link; PMID: 16117759
Comparison of mentoring programs indicates that a group peer, collaborative mentoring model is likely to be an effective and predictably reliable form of mentoring for both women and men in academic medicine.

The Junior Faculty Laboratory: an innovative model of peer mentoring. Johnson KS, Hastings SN, Purser JL, Whitson HE. Acad Med 86:1577-82 (2011). Journal Link; PMID: 22030756
A model for non-facilitated peer mentoring.

Mentoring Women & Minority Faculty

Mentoring programs for underrepresented minority faculty in academic medical centers: a systematic review of the literature. Beech BM, Calles-Escandon J, Hairston KG, Langdon SE, Latham-Sadler BA, Bell RA. Acad Med 88: 541-9 (2013). Journal link; PMID:  23425989
A comprehensive review of published mentoring programs targeted to underrepresented minority faculty.

How Men Can Excel as Mentors of Women. Bickel J. Acad Med (2014). Journal link; PMID: 24853197

Sponsorship

Sponsorship: a path to the academic medicine C-suite for women faculty? Travis EL, Doty L, Helitzer DL. Acad Med 88:1414-7 (2013). Journal link; PMID:23969365
Making the case for sponsorship.

Mentoring Education

A research mentor training curriculum for clinical and translational researchers. Pfund C, House S, Spencer K, Asquith P, Carney P, Masters KS, McGee R, Shanedling J, Vecchiarelli S, Fleming M. Clin Transl Sci 6:26–33 (2013). Journal link; PMID: 23399086
Description and preliminary evaluation of a mentoring curriculum for research. The complete curriculum is available online here.

Training mentors of clinical and translational research scholars: a randomized controlled trial. Pfund C, House SC, Asquith P, Fleming MF, Buhr KA, Burnham EL, Eichenberger Gilmore JM, Huskins WC, McGee R, Schurr K, Shapiro ED, Spencer KC, Sorkness CA. Acad Med 89: 774–82 (2014). Journal link; PMID: 24667509
Demonstration that the research mentoring curriculum results in improved mentoring skills in mentors; the study uses the Mentoring Competency Assessment to measure mentoring skills.

Mentoring Competencies

Deriving competencies for mentors of clinical and translational scholars. Abedin Z, Biskup E, Silet K, Garbutt JM, Kroenke K, Feldman MD, McGee R, Fleming M, Pincus HA. Clin Transl Sci 5: 273–280 (2012). Journal link; PMID: 22686206
Definition of the competencies of effective mentors: although targeted to mentors of scholars in clinical and translational research, many of the competencies apply broadly to mentoring.

The Mentoring Competency Assessment: validation of a new instrument to evaluate skills of research mentors. Fleming M, House S, Hanson VS, Yu L, Garbutt J, McGee R, Kroenke K, Abedin Z, Rubio DM. Acad Med 88: 1002–8 (2013). Journal link; PMID: 23702534
The assessment measures mentoring competencies in six areas: the instrument is available online here.

Online Mentoring Curricula & Guides

Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring: An online curriculum for the professional development of research mentors. University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
Online course (link) on the skills and tools necessary to form effective mentoring relationships: although targeted to research mentors, the material is of use for mentors of all types.

Mentoring Toolkit and Curriculum. Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Online guide (link) to mentoring derived from the BWH Faculty Mentoring Leadership Program.

Research Mentoring Curricula and Resources. University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
Online resources for mentoring including a curriculum for research mentors (link) and the Mentoring Competency Assessment (link).