Bolstering the pathway to promote scientific workforce diversity: the UCSF Mid-Career Development Program

Area of Science:

• Academic Medicine
• Faculty Development
• Health Equity

Background:

• Academic medical institutions struggle with retaining midcareer faculty from historically excluded groups.
• Existing retention efforts often focus on individuals, not systemic approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the UCSF Mid-Career Development Program's effectiveness in advancing and retaining historically excluded research faculty and their mentees.
• To assess the program's impact on academic output, leadership attainment, and return on investment.

Main Methods:

• The UCSF Mid-Career Development Program provided faculty with funding, career development curriculum, networking, mentorship, and sponsorship.
• A formative evaluation collected baseline and follow-up data on participants' academic and leadership achievements.

Main Results:

• Seven scholars and 35 mentees participated between 2020-2024.
• Scholars achieved rank advancements, published 119 articles, secured $2.3M in NIH awards, and attained leadership roles.
• Mentees published 194 articles and secured $2M in NIH awards, with a program ROI of 310% ($3.10 per $1 invested).

Conclusions:

• The program demonstrates a successful model for retaining and advancing underrepresented faculty.
• Plans are underway to ensure program sustainability and scale the model to other institutions.
• Future evaluations will include comparison data to further validate outcomes.