Mentoring in the MTPCI Program
Mentoring of trainees is an integral part of the MTPCI experience. The MTPCI Program Directors and the Program Administrator are responsible for the overall organization and tracking of mentoring activities. This includes selection of Mentoring Committees for each trainee, and establishing a mentoring schedule as well as overseeing the process for tracking the mentoring experience.
In addition to (and separate from) a trainee's primary research mentor, each trainee, with the help of the MTPCI administration, will select a Mentoring Committee to include two members selected from senior faculty and one from the MTPCI Advisory Committee. Current members of the Advisory Committee are Dan Cox, Carolyn Engelhard, John Hanks, Jonathan Moreno, Richard Santen, and Margaret Shupnik.
The purpose of each Mentoring Committee is to provide ongoing evaluation and guidance to the trainee with regard to her/his development as a clinical investigator. Additionally the Mentoring Committee will bring multi-disciplinary guidance to the process. Although frequent, informal interactions between the mentors and mentee are strongly encouraged, more formal meetings are required twice per year. Prior to each mentoring session, the trainee will submit a summary of their research activities since the last mentoring using the Interim Activity Report form. After each mentoring session, the Program Administrator will prepare a summary of the session and provide a copy to the Program Director, the mentoring committee, the trainee and any other recipients requested by the trainee. The form provided for this purpose (see the Mentoring Session Summary form) includes remarks concerning both a retrospective view of accomplishments and concerns during the previous six months, and a prospective view of specific plans for the ensuing six months. By means of this dynamic process successful strategies will be identified and encouraged, and potential or real problems acknowledged and rectified early in the trainee’s academic career.
How the mentoring process works:
The selection of a Mentoring Committee for new trainees will typically be done within the first two months of enrollment in consultation with MTPCI administration. Subsequently, the MTPCI administrator will set up a schedule for biannual meetings between the trainee and her/his Mentoring Committee. In advance of each spring and fall mentoring, the administrator will e-mail each trainee and their mentoring committee members to arrange a mentoring date and time. Once a date and time are confirmed, a location will be chosen. An announcement will be sent confirming the time and location of the upcoming mentoring session. The trainee will prepare the Interim Activity Report prior to the session and send that to the Program Administrator for distribution prior to the actual mentoring. Each mentoring session uses our standard Mentoring Session Agenda. During the mentoring session mentors will review the interim activity report including any coursework completed and make recommendations for additional coursework and other research activity to be pursued over the ensuing six months. The Program Administrator will complete the Mentoring Session Summary and review it orally before the conclusion of the session for committee approval. Each mentoring session is thereby documented with the dates and attendees as part of the Mentoring Session Summary . Annual reports and summaries from the mentoring process enable the MTPCI program to identify trends leading to success, and to offer guidance to mentors to help assure a positive outcome.
Main Steps in each Mentoring Cycle:
1. The trainee submits an Interim Activity Report summarizing their research endeavor since the last mentoring.
2. The Program Administrator schedules the mentoring session.
3. The mentoring session follows our standard Mentoring Session Agenda.
4. The Program Administrator prepares the Mentoring Session Summary.
The collected Interim Activity Reports, Mentoring Session Summaries and Completed Coursework report serve to document each trainee's MTPCI training experience.
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