Development and implementation of a novel mentoring program for clinical and translational team scientists

The importance of mentoring for professional development in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) fields is well established. With the increasing prevalence of team science, mentoring that incorporates team science skills is essential. Here, we describe a novel mentoring program designed to develop technical and relational/interpersonal skills for working in multi-disciplinary team science environments and to develop networks to improve collaboration in multi-disciplinary team science. The Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance Translational Education and Mentoring in Science program is a nine-month program consisting of one-on-one mentoring, peer mentoring groups, mentoring resources, and shared learning experiences. Mentees (fellows) are exposed to a wide range of learning opportunities related to the goals of the program. This multi-institutional effort, in its fifth year, has been well received by participants. To date, 95 faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and research scientists have participated in the program as mentees. Participants indicated that they enjoyed the program, identified new networking opportunities, and would recommend it to others. In addition, fellows reported improved relational, technical, and networking skills over the duration of the program. Mentor ratings were also quite favorable. The multi-institutional nature of the program enriched learning and its unique structure combining traditional one-on-one mentoring with peer learning communities has been beneficial to those participating.