From Mentee to Mentor
Dr. Chen: Early Mentor’s Perspective
I (VLC) completed training in 2020 and have mentored only people who are early in their careers, i.e., medical students, residents, and fellows. My transition from mentee to mentor was primarily motivated by gratitude to my past mentors. Watching my own former trainees move on to the next stages of their careers has been hugely fulfilling. It is important that mentee-mentor relationships are mutually beneficial, and I offer a few points to junior faculty considering taking on trainees as mentees.
Taking on a mentee is a commitment. Take it seriously. While a mentee’s success is ultimately their responsibility, mentors are implicitly agreeing to give them opportunities commensurate to their skills and motivation. If you are not in a position to offer such opportunities, do not accept mentees.
Mentorship takes time. Explaining and reviewing research protocols, reading abstract or manuscript drafts, and meeting with mentees to plan for next steps take more time than one might expect.
Understand what potential mentees want. Most trainees are looking for help making it to the next stage of their career (college to medical school, residency to fellowship, etc.) and need abstracts and/or publications to get there. When I work with residents applying to GI fellowship, the goal is that by the time fellowship applications are submitted (early in third year of residency), they have at a minimum presented an abstract at Digestive Diseases Week (DDW) in their second year and submitted an abstract to the American College of Gastroenterology and/or American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases meetings in their third year. This requires planning to ensure they start working early enough to meet conference abstract deadlines. In my opinion, it is reasonable to give the trainee a less ambitious project or a piece of a larger project (i.e., middle authorship on a paper).
By contrast, for trainees who are seriously interested in a research career, the goal is not superfluous abstracts. Rather it is crucial to ensure that the trainee leads a meaningful project that will be a steppingstone to their future career and/or provide preliminary data to support grant applications. Similarly, training in research methodology should be more rigorous for these mentees.
Recognize the limitations of your circumstances. Early-stage faculty often operate on a shoestring budget and little protected time. Even those with 50% or more protected research time and excellent nursing support will find that the time they spend on patient care extends far beyond the time spent in endoscopy units and clinics. Time management and discipline — including not getting bogged down on low-impact research studies — are essential skills.
Be (slightly) selfish. Make sure that you get something out of the mentee as well. Ask yourself:
Do I have work they can help me with? Avoid creating projects simply to give a trainee something to do. It is much better to have them work on a project that you want to do anyway.
How do the trainee’s skills fit in with the type of work that I do? A trainee with no background in statistics may not be able to conduct analyses but may be able to do chart reviews.
Consider “testing” a potential mentee by assigning a limited, straightforward task. If the mentee completes this quickly and to a high standard, then move on to progressively more important or high-stakes projects.
Set concrete and realistic expectations, keeping in mind that trainees have other commitments such as classes and clinical rotations.
Serving as a mentor to the next generation of gastroenterologists is a privilege that junior faculty should not take lightly, and an opportunity for a symbiotic relationship.
Dr. Chen and Dr. Lok are with the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have no financial conflicts related to this article.
