NSF, NIH Emphasize the Importance of Mentoring

Research experiences and mentoring practices in selected east Asian graduate programs: predictors of research productivity among doctoral students in molecular biology

Although doctoral mentors recognize the benefits of providing quality advisement and close guidance, those of sharing project management responsibilities with mentees are still not well recognized. We observed that mentees, who have the opportunity to co-manage projects, generate more written output. Here we examine the link between research productivity, doctoral mentoring practices (DMP), and doctoral research experiences (DRE) of mentees in programs in the non-West. Inspired by previous findings that early career productivity is a strong predictor of later productivity, we examine the research productivity of 210 molecular biology doctoral students in selected programs in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Using principal component (PC) analysis, we derive two sets of PCs: one set from 15 DMP and another set from 16 DRE items. We model research productivity using Poisson and negative-binomial regression models with these sets as predictors. Our findings suggest a need to re-think extant practices and to allocate resources toward professional career development in training future scientists. We contend that doctoral science training must not only be an occasion for future scientists to learn scientific and technical skills, but it must also be the opportunity to experience, to acquire, and to hone research management skills.

Mentoring early-career scientists for HIV research careers

Mentoring is important for early-career HIV researchers; it is key for work satisfaction, productivity, workforce diversity, and retention of investigators in a variety of research settings. Establishment of multidisciplinary research projects often is accomplished through mentoring. The work of early-career HIV investigators frequently requires networks of collaborators, and networking is regularly facilitated by mentors. A structured mentoring program that avoids unnecessary conflicts or time burdens and connects early-career investigators with senior mentors from different disciplines may stimulate new networking possibilities and lead to effective collaborations among investigators with different skills and perspectives. Effective mentoring by focused mentors will likely contribute to the skills and networks of investigators necessary for the next generation of HIV investigators.

Mentoring the mentor: another tool to enhance mentorship

Highlighting in a proactive fashion the importance of mentoring and of mentoring the mentors helps enrich how our medical societies can further contribute to the well-being of society at large. Implementation of a successful mentoring program is likely to perpetuate and grow the positive effects of mentorship, and mentoring-the-mentor considerations raised herein are likely to enhance overall mentorship. Mentoring the mentors provides an alternative "top down" approach to complement the essential and more traditional "bottom up" emphasis that we currently aim to provide to trainees on the importance of identifying appropriate mentors and what it takes to be role model mentees.