[Mentorship to support career development among women physicians]

Mentorship is a critical mechanism for the growth and career development of young physicians and plays an especially decisive role in addressing the "leaky pipeline" faced by women in medicine. In this article, we first clarify the distinctions between four forms of support-mentor, sponsor, ally, and coach-and review initiatives at the levels of professional societies, institutions, and individuals. We then present concrete examples from Japan: the Japanese Data Center for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, which combines a registry scientist training program with flexible work arrangements; Chiba University, where a formal mentoring system for medical students and a team-based clinical structure provide embedded, structural mentorship; and a small survey of women physicians in general hospitals, which reveals limited formal mentoring systems and diverse needs regarding mentor characteristics. Drawing on these experiences, we describe key attributes of effective mentors, including accessibility, reliability, and respect for mentees' values and goals, and we highlight three central mentoring roles: supporting academic success, promoting sustainable work-life balance, and fostering leadership development. To create an environment in which women physicians can fully realize their potential, high-quality mentorship must be strengthened across academic societies, healthcare institutions, and individual practitioners.