Mentors and Mentees

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring refers to a dynamic, collaborative, reciprocal, and sustained relationship focused on an emerging individual’s acquisition of the values and attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to develop into a successful professional (modified from Abedin et al. Clin. Trans. Sci. 5:273-280, 2012).

Learn more as faculty at MSM discuss why mentoring junior underrepresented scientist is important and how our efforts can impact health equity.

There are many roles and responsibilities that mentees and mentors must contribute in order to have an effective mentoring relationship.

Mentors

  • Facilitating mentee’s learning and intellectual growth
  • Providing skills and make needed resources available
  • Providing guidance
  • Providing feedback
  • Evaluating the mentee’s plans
  • Maintaining confidentiality
  • Maintaining regular contact

Mentees

  • Willingness to be mentored
  • Trust that mentor or mentoring team is always acting in the best interest of the mentee
  • Honest communication

Team Mentoring Goals

  • To prepare the mentee for a life-time of learning, commitment to excellence, and ability to be successful in diverse environments.
  • To enhance the supportive academic environment for the conduct of team science, where appropriate, for the mentee.
  • Working as a team and providing multiple perspectives, to facilitate the entry of mentee into the MSM culture, including the structures, processes, and interpersonal climate of MSM.
  • To facilitate the development of appropriate translational research skills and team science approaches related to the balance and evaluation of research, scholarship, and service.
  • To provide opportunities for developing and working on mentored and independent multidisciplinary research projects with a multidisciplinary translational research team.
  • To enhance decision-making and other skills involved in working with a team related to the mentee’s career development and advancement.