Our program views mentorship as a key component of success. We believe that most residents will need a team of mentors to best help them achieve their goals, and we have designed our mentorship program to help each resident build that team over time.
Each incoming intern is assigned a “Program Mentor,” who is a Core Faculty member with deep knowledge of the residency program. Each resident will meet with their Program Mentor at least three times per year, with each meeting having a different focus as the academic year progresses.
Mentorship is structured around an evolving individualized learning plan (ILP) which the program mentor and mentee create together over the course of the residency. Early during intern year, the program mentor and intern review the process of transitioning into residency, identify both clinical and non-clinical foundational areas on which the intern would like to focus, and create individualized plans on how best to address these. During the second half of intern year, mentor-mentee pairs build upon the ILP from the prior meeting to gauge progress on goals created, modify them if needed, and start identifying additional mentors for clinical, academic and scholarly work. This is an iterative process that continues as residents’ interests evolve over time. As interns transition to upper year residents, they meet with program mentors to address clinical strengths, and areas for growth, elective selection based on their identified career interests, professional skill development, pursuit of scholarly projects, strategies to build work-life balance, and any other topics identified by the residents.
Our program also encourages group mentorship through interest groups such as Women in Medicine, Physician Scientists, Minority House Staff Council, and various specialty-specific interest groups.