Virtual Team-Based Mentorship: Fostering Knowledge Acquisition, Career Advancement, and Connectedness

Background Mentoring for clinical faculty in academic health centers offers numerous benefits; however, structured virtual mentoring remains understudied in this context. The Mentorship Matters pilot program was established to better understand whether providing structured curricula in a virtual format can result in positive outcomes for clinical faculty. Methods Mentorship Matters offered tailored, virtual mentoring for Department of Medicine faculty, covering topics such as career advancement, academic promotion, and work-life integration, through monthly virtual meetings. Participants underwent pre-, mid-, and post-engagement surveys, including the Leadership in Academic Medicine Program Survey and internal questions tailored by the Mentorship Matters team after reviewing mentorship literature for clinical faculty 21,24. Results Among 23 mentees and 8 mentors, pre-engagement data showed 25% of mentees reported no previous mentoring 23 . Sixty-three percent felt inadequately supported and expressed a need for career guidance 23 . Fifty-seven percent of mentors lacked formal mentoring and 86% felt under-supported 23 . Results from the mid-point survey demonstrated that mentees (n=10) highly valued Mentorship Matters for career advancement (100%), academic promotion (89%), work-life integration (78%), and scholarship support (78%); 90% found the time commitment appropriate 23,24. Among mentors (n=8), 88% found the time commitment suitable, all found the virtual format effective, and 63% found content on difficult conversations meaningful. In the post-engagement survey, both mentees (n=9) and mentors (n=7) found topics such as leadership development, career advancement, academic promotion, and work-life integration to be highly meaningful 23,24. Mentees emphasized the value of networking. Post-engagement data suggested a strong positive correlation between the virtual format and appropriate time commitment for mentees (r(7) = 1, P 0.001) 23,24. Conclusions Virtual, regularly scheduled programmatic mentorship supports clinical faculty's career growth. Programs like Mentorship Matters enhance knowledge, job satisfaction, and networking, which fosters faculty success in academic health centers.