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Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers.

ABSTRACT: As academic careers become more competitive, junior scientists need to understand the value that mentorship brings to their success in academia. Previous research has found that, unsurprisingly, successful mentors tend to train successful students. But what characteristics of this relationship predict success, and how? We analyzed an open-access database of 18,856 researchers who have undergone both graduate and postdoctoral training, compiled across several fields of biomedical science with an emphasis on neuroscience. Our results show that postdoctoral mentors were more instrumental to trainees' success compared to graduate mentors. Trainees' success in academia was also predicted by the degree of intellectual synthesis between their graduate and postdoctoral mentors. Researchers were more likely to succeed if they trained under mentors with disparate expertise and integrated that expertise into their own work. This pattern has held up over at least 40 years, despite fluctuations in the number of students and availability of independent research positions.

SUBMITTER: Lienard JF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6258699 | biostudies-other | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers.

Liénard Jean F JF Achakulvisut Titipat T Acuna Daniel E DE David Stephen V SV

Nature communications 20181127 1

As academic careers become more competitive, junior scientists need to understand the value that mentorship brings to their success in academia. Previous research has found that, unsurprisingly, successful mentors tend to train successful students. But what characteristics of this relationship predict success, and how? We analyzed an open-access database of 18,856 researchers who have undergone both graduate and postdoctoral training, compiled across several fields of biomedical science with an ...[more]

PMID: 30482900

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Project description:BackgroundMentorship influences career planning, academic productivity, professional satisfaction, and most notably, the pursuit of academic medicine careers. Little is known about the role of mentoring in recruiting Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino residents into academia. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of mentoring on academic medicine career choice among a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse residents.MethodsA strategic convenience sample of U.S. residents attending national professional conferences between March and July 2010; residents completed a quantitative survey and a subset participated in focus groups.ResultsOf the 250 residents, 183 (73%) completed surveys and 48 participated in focus groups. Thirty-eight percent of residents were white, 31% Black/African American, 17% Asian/other, and 14% Hispanic/Latino. Most respondents (93%) reported that mentorship was important for entering academia, and 70% reported having sufficient mentorship to pursue academic careers. Three themes about mentorship emerged from focus groups: (1) qualities of successful mentorship models; (2) perceived benefits of mentorship; and (3) the value of racial/ethnic and gender concordance. Residents preferred mentors they selected rather than ones assigned to them, and expressed concern about faculty using checklists. Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and female residents described actively seeking out mentors of the same race/ethnicity and gender, but expressed difficulty finding such mentors. Lack of racial/ethnic concordance was perceived as an obstacle for minority mentees, requiring explanation of the context and nuances of their perspectives and situations to non-minority mentors.ConclusionsThe majority of residents in this study reported having access to mentors. However, data show that the lack of diverse faculty mentors may impede diverse residents' satisfaction and benefit from mentorship relationships compared to white residents. These findings are important for residency programs striving to enhance resident mentorship and for institutions working to diversify their faculty and staff to achieve institutional excellence.

Project description:ObjectivesTo examine and synthesise current evidence on the factors that affect recruitment, retention, participation and progression within the clinical academic pathway, focusing on equitable participation across protected characteristics including gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation.DesignScoping review and meta-thematic synthesis.Data sourcesWeb of Science, Google Scholar.Article selectionWe conducted a scoping review of English language articles on factors affecting recruitment, retention, progression and equitable participation in clinical academic careers published in North America, Australasia and Western Europe between January 2005 and April 2019. The most recent and relevant 39 articles were selected for meta-thematic synthesis using detailed inclusion/exclusion criteria.Data extractionThe articles were purposively sampled to cover protected characteristics and career stages and coded for factors related to equitable participation. 17 articles were fully coded. No new themes arose after nine papers. Themes and higher level categories were derived through an iterative consensual process.Results13 discrete themes of factors impacting on equitable participation were identified including societal attitudes and expectations; national and organisational policies, priorities and resourcing; academic and clinical workplace cultures; supportive, discriminatory and compensatory interpersonal behaviours and personal factors related to social capital, finances, competing priorities, confidence and ambition, and orientation to clinical, academic and leadership roles.ConclusionsThe broad and often interconnected nature of these factors suggests that interventions will need to address structural and cultural factors as well as individual needs. In addition to standard good practice on equality and diversity, we suggest that organisations provide equitable support towards early publication success and targeted mentoring; address financial and role insecurity; address the clinical workplace culture; mitigate clinical-academic-personal role conflicts and overload; ensure that promotional structures and processes encourage diverse applicants and promote family-friendly, coherent and transparent national career pathways.

Project description:ImportanceBecause mentorship is critical for professional development and career advancement, it is essential to examine the status of mentorship and identify challenges that junior surgical faculty (assistant and associate professors) face obtaining effective mentorship.ObjectiveTo evaluate the mentorship experience for junior surgical faculty and highlight areas for improvement.Design, setting, and participantsThis qualitative study was an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study including an anonymous survey on mentorship followed by semistructured interviews to expand on survey findings. Junior surgical faculty from 18 US academic surgery programs were included in the anonymous survey and interviews. Survey responses between "formal" (assigned by the department) vs "informal" (sought out by the faculty) mentors and male vs female junior faculty were compared using χ2 tests. Interview responses were analyzed for themes until thematic saturation was achieved. Survey responses were collected from November 2022 to August 2023, and interviews conducted from July to December 2023.ExposureMentorship from formal and/or informal mentors.Main outcomes and measuresSurvey gauged the availability and satisfaction with formal and informal mentorship; interviews assessed broad themes regarding mentorship.ResultsOf 825 survey recipients, 333 (40.4%) responded; 155 (51.7%) were male and 134 (44.6%) female. Nearly all respondents (319 [95.8%]) agreed or strongly agreed that mentorship is important to their surgical career, especially for professional networking (309 respondents [92.8%]), career advancement (301 [90.4%]), and research (294 [88.3%]). However, only 58 respondents (18.3%) had a formal mentor. More female than male faculty had informal mentors (123 [91.8%] vs 123 [79.4%]; P = .003). Overall satisfaction was higher with informal mentorship than formal mentorship (221 [85.0%] vs 40 [69.0%]; P = .01). Most male and female faculty reported no preferences in gender or race and ethnicity for their mentors. When asked if they had good mentor options if they wanted to change mentors, 141 (47.8%) responded no. From the interviews (n = 20), 6 themes were identified, including absence of mentorship infrastructure, preferred mentor characteristics, and optimizing mentorship.Conclusions and relevanceAcademic junior surgical faculty agree mentorship is vital to their careers. However, this study found that few had formal mentors and almost half need more satisfactory options if they want to change mentors. Academic surgical programs should adopt a framework for facilitating mentorship and optimize mentor-mentee relationships through alignment of mentor-mentee goals and needs.

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Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers.

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Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers.

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