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Guiding while growing: The dual role of early career mentors

Written by: Samir S. Shah MD, MSCE, MHM
Published on: Jan 23, 2025

Visual Abstract.Early Career Mentors
Photo Credit: Samir S. Shah MD, MSCE, MHM

Early career physicians often ask me for guidance on when they should venture into mentorship. Serving as a scholarship or research mentor at an early career stage is both challenging and rewarding. Balancing the dual mentor/mentee role requires additional time, energy, and effort, all of which may be scarce at this stage. Some may also feel intimidated, wondering whether they are qualified to serve as mentors. However, strong mentor–mentee relationships are synergistic, and many early career mentees benefit from becoming primary mentors to fellows, residents, or students.

Those who mentor early in their careers may be more attuned to their mentees' current challenges and experiences. Energetic early career mentors introduce fresh perspectives and, often, have greater bandwidth for mentoring relationships. They tend to engage in a more collaborative learning process with their mentees, benefiting both the early career mentor and their mentee. Early career mentors gain experience in leadership and role modeling, while the relationship nurtures important qualities such as altruism, generosity, and patience. As mentees seek guidance on their projects and careers, early career mentors learn to step back and consider a broader perspective, which may also provide them insight into their own trajectories.

Early career mentors should limit mentorship to only one or two mentees and focus on those with aligned scholarly interests. For example, the mentee might seek to answer a pertinent question by leveraging data that exists from the early career mentor's primary study or by adding additional questions to a planned survey for subsequent analysis. Otherwise, the early career physician risks derailing their own progress.

One way to balance the benefits and challenges of being an early career mentor is to join a mentorship team rather than take on the sole responsibility of mentoring a trainee.1 In this collaborative model, the early career mentor can serve as a content mentor, offering specific guidance in areas that complement the rest of the team. For instance, the early career mentor may provide content mentorship in patient safety to complement the primary mentor's health services research expertise. Alternatively, the early career mentor could contribute supplementary methodological expertise, such as in implementation science, to support the primary mentor's or methodologist's specialization in comparative effectiveness research.

As part of a mentorship team, the early career physician can learn about and receive guidance on effective mentoring practices from the primary mentor and other senior mentors while contributing to the mentee's development and advancing their own scholarly interests. This approach can also foster a sense of community and collaboration among mentors and mentees, enhancing the quality and impact of the mentorship experience.

The early career mentor should provide the mentee with (1) clear expectations, objectives, and timelines for the project and its various phases; (2) constructive guidance and regular feedback; (3) adequate resources and support for project completion (e.g., access to appropriate data, software, assistance with and close oversight of analysis); (4) other opportunities for learning (e.g., local lectures, seminars, research group or team meetings); (5) opportunities to lead initial dissemination of their work, such as local, regional, or national abstract presentations; (6) appropriate recognition of their contributions (e.g., lead or coauthorship on the manuscript(s), nomination for awards); and (7) opportunities for networking, such as introducing them to other experts in the field and inviting them to relevant regional or national conferences. By following these strategies, the early career mentor can foster a productive and rewarding relationship with their mentee while advancing their own academic and professional goals.

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