Mentorship in Medicine and Nephrology: More Important Than Ever

Mentorship has always been important in medicine. In fact, one can argue that that is how doctors are trained. Moreover, mentorship has been proven to preserve and elevate those who wish to pursue academic medicine. In nephrology, mentorship has become paramount, as interest in the field has declined during this decade. In this article, we will delineate how mentorship impacts physician careers, describe different types of mentors and their characteristics, and summarize responsibilities of mentors and mentees. We will discuss specific challenges in nephrology and the steps that have been taken to address them via mentorship. We conclude that mentorship is a powerful tool that can help provide an optimistic future for our field.